Page 20 of Summer Reading

I shrugged. “Coping mechanisms. I developed themas a kid to try and keep up, and a lot of them translated into my professional life.”

“Such as?” he asked.

I’d have given him the short answer that I usually used when people asked about my neurodivergent brain, but Tyler seemed genuinely interested. We were supposed to be getting to know each other this summer. I took a deep breath and decided to go all in. I was nervous. I really didn’t want my supersmart brother to think less of me. I almost changed the subject at the last second—almost. Instead, I tapped into a reserve of courage I didn’t know I had, and shared.

I stared into my coffee cup, thinking about my life in the restaurant. “For starters, I do things like group my tasks, so if I have to chop onions for one dish and peppers for another, I do them all at once. I plan out the timing of each dish so there aren’t any surprises, and even then, I make sure to give myself extra time just in case. Shutting out external noise is helpful, although difficult in a busy kitchen, and I prep as much as I can ahead of time so I don’t get freaked out by the utter chaos that is the dinner rush hour.”

Tyler stared at me as if trying to process what I was saying. “So, what you’re saying is you have to come up with ways to compensate for the executive function in your brain being asleep on the job.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How do you know that? You just described exactly what ADHD means.”

“I might have done some reading up on dyslexia and ADHD,” he said. His gaze went down to his plate.

“You did?” I was oddly touched by this.

“Yeah, you’re not mad?”

“No,” I said. Which was true. “I appreciate that you want to understand.”

That might have been the wrong thing to say. It felt too emotional or too vulnerable. I wasn’t sure which, but it felt weird, and the awkwardness that mushroomed between us confirmed it wasn’t just me.

“Maybe you could build me a robot to help me out,” I said. I was going for a laugh to lighten the moment, but instead Tyler looked thoughtful.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I looked at the clock. “Let’s get going so you can maintain attendance dominance.”

“You make me sound like a maniac,” he said.

“Takes one to know one.”

“Right,” he agreed. But he didn’t sound offended.

We pulled into the library parking lot with time to spare. Tyler glanced at me when I climbed out of the car with him.

“You’re coming in with me?” He looked appalled.

“Relax,” I said. “I was teasing yesterday, and I’m sorry about that. I should have taken your feelings more seriously. I’m just going inside to see my friend Em.”

“Okay, but you won’t go anywhere near the robotics room,” he clarified. He stared at me as if he had thepower to freeze me in place. “And you’re not going to talk to any of the kids in the program.”

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Promise me,” he demanded. He didn’t blink, not once.

“I promise, you weirdo,” I said. “Sheesh.”

I waved him off, pretending I needed to get my bag out of the back of the car so he could get a head start and walk into the building alone. He didn’t want to be seen with me. I got it. It wasn’t as if I’d wanted to be seen with him when I was his age and he was a baby. Turnabout was fair play, I supposed.

I waited until he entered the building, and then I locked the car and followed. I wanted to catch up with Emily and see how she was doing, and maybe I’d get a glimpse of Ben, formerly known as hot reader guy. This thought thrilled me way more than it should have.

I wondered if it was ridiculous for me to want to see him again. I mean, what did we really have in common? He was a reader and I was... not. But it wasn’t just that he enjoyed reading, he wasa librarian. The man had chosen a profession where putting books into the hands of readers was literally his reason for being. Hot reader guy was all about books, meaning his idea of the perfect woman was undoubtedly someone with whom he could share that passion. That wasn’t me.

For the record, the English language is not kind to people with dyslexia with itsthere,their, andthey’reand its words that look nothing like how they’repronounced, likesubtleandyacht. Who came up with that shit anyway?

And I’d rather Ben see me with spinach in my teeth than witness what passed for my version of spelling. So no love notes then. I decided not to overthink it. I was attracted to Ben and I wanted to see him again. It didn’t need to be more complicated than that. For all I knew, he had a girlfriend, and friends was the most we could ever be. I felt a flicker of disappointment and then stomped on it. Friends was fine. I had a fourteen-year-old to keep an eye on. I didn’t need any other complications. Really.

I saw Emily seated at the service desk on the second floor. The robotics group was meeting in the teen area at the far end of the room, so I didn’t think Tyler could get too miffy about me talking to Emily. If he’d taken out a restraining order on me, I was far enough away not to violate it.

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