Page 57 of As Long As You Kiss Me

She didn’t answer.

Greg settled at the table again. “See what I mean? She was playing hard to get. That’s how you really know your advances are working. Women love to be coy.”

“Well, this has been educational.” Jackson stood up with his now empty mug.

“See you at our tutoring session today.” Greg stood up too.

“Yeah, sure. See you.” The tutoring had gotten difficult lately. A couple of the students, Ella and Caden, were fighting because Caden was refusing to do their work. Greg hadn’t been any help either. He’d just threatened to give them both detention.

They needed a mentor. A teacher to step in and help them know how to deal with difficult situations. Jackson had learned about how to deal with this in school, but it was his first time dealing with it in a real-life setting.

He headed out the door toward his classroom. He really did need someone to talk to about what he was going through. Greg wasn’t that person for him. But maybe his dad would be available to talk. He pulled out his phone and shot his dad a text, asking him if he could come over to work on the tiling job in the kitchen that night.

After school, he headed to the classroom where the tutoring was being held. Ella was sitting with Caden, and they were arguing again. Already? The session hadn’t even officially started yet.

“Caden, please just try,” Ella pleaded.

“What’s the point?” he retorted. “I’m just going to fail anyway.”

“Not if you work hard and study. I’m want to help you, but you have to put in effort too.” Ella’s face was getting red from frustration.

“Ella,” Jackson said. “Can you come here for a minute?”

She got up and joined him at the front of the classroom.

“Maybe you should try giving him something to look forward to.”

“You mean like a reward?”

“Exactly. You could ask him what his favorite candy is, and every time he finishes a math problem, he gets another piece of candy. And if he gets it correct, he gets two pieces.”

Ella’s face brightened. “That’s a great idea, Mr. Carr.”

“I’d even be willing to provide the candy. You just find out what he likes best,” Jackson said.

“Okay. I’ll do that right now.” She headed back to Caden’s desk and explained the deal to him.

A few minutes later, she came back to Jackson’s desk. “He said he likes M&Ms.”

“Perfect. I’ll go get a big bag of them and bring them to our next session.”

She went back to Caden, and he picked up his pencil and started writing.

By the end of the session, he’d gotten several math problems done, and he hadn’t even gotten any candy yet.

“I’ll make sure you get extra candy for the ones you did today,” Ella told him.

Caden smiled with a proud look on his face.

When the tutoring session was over, Greg came up to Jackson. “You did a good job with those kids today.”

“Thanks. They’re the ones doing the work. I’m just helping out where I can.” If he could figure out how to help these kids, why couldn’t he find a way to save his relationship with Sully? There had to be a way.

His phone buzzed in his pocket with an incoming text. He pulled it out and checked it.

“See you later, Jackson,” Greg said.

“Bye.” The text was from his dad. He said he’d be there that evening to help him work on the house.

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