Page 13 of Love at a 7-Eleven

"I have to be at a meeting in the morning, so two sounds good to me. Whatever time you can be there."

"Yeah, I can't believe you know Marcus and Sasha. She acted like she knew you when I showed her your card. I guess I should've figured with running into you in the coaches' lounge."

"Yeah, my dad had me in and out of there since I was a little girl."

"Oh my gosh, how does it feel to have the coolest dad in the world?" He was smiling. I could hear it in his voice. But knowing his background with his father I had no idea how to answer.

I paused for a few seconds and then slowly said, "He's one cool dude," like an idiot.

"Yeah, he is," Caleb said, matching my slow tempo but with a smile that I could still hear in his voice.

I wanted to be next to him. I could imagine what he looked like, and I grinned at the thought of it.

"It's so interesting to me that you love the Crusades. I would love to hear more about it sometime."

"More about the crusades? Don't even get me started. I am a gigantic nerd. I will talk your ear off."

"I never really got into history in school. I don't know why. I did on my own with all the Bible stuff, but that's specialized. Why don't you consider teaching if you love talking about history so much?"

"That's a good question because technically I would enjoy it, but there's so much more to teaching than just getting an idea across to an audience."

"What's more than that? That's the essence of teaching, isn't it?"

"I wish it were. I like talking about history to an interested person. But a portion of any given class doesn't even want to be there. Some of the people aren’t even interested in what the teacher is saying. Once you get past that, then there's all the paperwork—you have to grade students and hold them accountable for learning. And then there's school politics. Some students are mad at you if you're too hard and others are mad at you if you're too easy. Anyway, party planning is fun. And it's more of an environment I can control."

"What about tutoring? People who want to learn one-on-one? Would that be fun for you?"

The question seemed to be specific, and it caused my heart to speed up again. "Why, do you know someone who needs a history tutor?"

"I'll sign up for that," he said. "I'd love to take a class with you—even a lesson or two while I'm in Chicago. I think that would be fun. Would that be something you'd be interested in? Would you want to teach me? I'll pay you. I mean, I understand if you can't get started on something so soon, but I can meet up if you can."

My heart was pounding and I could not stop the gigantic grin from crossing my face. I had to calm myself down before I could speak.

"Yeah, no, I'd like that," I said sounding casual and happy. "I could always improv some lesson plans."

"Tonight?"

"What?" I asked even though I heard him.

"I thought you might want to get started tonight," he said.

"Y-yeah. I… where and when were you thinking?"

"I don't know… off the top of my head… maybe a café or diner—some place that's open and wouldn't mind if we sit. Is there something close to you?"

"Yes, there is. I can text you the address. Hang on for a second, and I'll do it right now. I don't know where Marcus lives. If this is too far, we can find somewhere else… meet in the middle. Hang on, I just sent it."

I waited while he opened the text.

"It's fifteen minutes," he said. "And that's fine. I can be there by ten o'clock."

"Okay," I said. "Should I just meet you there? I'll meet you there. Ten o'clock."

"Okay, sounds good."

We hung up the phone, and I rushed to get ready. I spent more time on the historical materials than I did on my appearance. I knew how intelligent this man was. I had looked into him before he called, and I had watched quite a few of his videos. He was an evangelist, but he reasoned with people using logic and facts. He was highly intelligent, and I wanted to put my best foot forward with the history stuff. I chose two of my favorite books and brought a notebook with notes and another empty notebook just in case. I also packed my laptop.

I took a few minutes to change and freshen up my appearance, but before I knew it I was out the door, heading to Sam's. It was a 24-hour diner near my house, and it wasn't busy this time of night. There were only a few tables being occupied. I had arrived five minutes early, and I ordered a glass of water, a slice of pie, and a coffee, decaf. I told the waitress that I was expecting someone. She noticed my books and said that we could take our time.

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