Page 6 of Private Tutoring
“Another rough night?” Roberto asked when he finished his set and rolled to a sitting position.
I nodded with a grunt. “Can’t get it out of my head. It’s been five years.” My throat locked, and I choked on the excuse. Anyone would tell me that grief wasn’t linear.
“Dude, you lost your wife and baby girl in childbirth. You don’t just get over that.” Roberto reached over and smacked my knee. “And your form is shit. You’re going to blow your shoulder if you keep lifting like that.”
I shifted my position when he smacked my leg again. “Fuck off and do your own work.” I didn’t mean a word of it, and he knew that. The false aggression let me work out my emotionswith the people I trusted. They’d been with me through everything, and I’d been there for them.
We were quite the collection of bachelors and widowers. Matthew had been engaged, but his engagement fell through.
Roberto was too busy falling in and out of love to bother with marriage.
But me? I’d had it all. Had it and lost it.
Matthew finished with the free weights, then walked over and pushed me off the bench when I set the bar in the rack. “Kitchen. I need something to drink, and we need to talk.”
“We can talk here.” I rubbed the ache in my palms, ignoring my shoulder when it twinged.
Roberto was right. I was going to blow it out if I didn’t pay attention.
“Kitchen.” Matthew stalked out, turning left at the door. Seconds later, the refrigerator door closed with a gentle slap. “Got your favorite protein drink. Come on. It’s important.”
Those two words were all it took to drive me to my feet and into the kitchen. “How important?”
“Depends.”
“Like the diapers you’re going to need next year?” Roberto danced out of the way when Matthew took a swipe at his arm. “Getting slow, old man. Next thing you know, we’ll be putting you in the nursing home.”
“We’re the same age, asshole.” Matthew chucked a bottle at Roberto’s head.
He snapped it out of the air and cracked the seal. “So? I’m in better shape. I eat healthier, and I’m more handsome.”
“Okay, enough.” Matthew held up one hand. His other gripped a bottle of water. “I have a student who’s struggling in your classes. Harmony Vogel.”
I nearly choked on the protein shake. “Why is this important to us? Kids fail all the time.”
“I need this one to pass. She’s the best singer I’ve heard in ten years. If she doesn’t bring her grades up, she goes on probation. Then she loses her scholarship.” He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stand on end.
“I know her.” Roberto’s eyes crunched together. “She seems shy. You sure we’re talking about the same girl? I can’t imagine her as a theater major.”
“I’m sure.” Matthew paced to the island in the center of the kitchen. White cabinets stood out starkly behind him, his body bookended by the stove to his right and refrigerator to his left.
I pulled out one of the stools and sat. “What are you asking? I’m not raising her grade just because you like her.” It sounded odd saying it that way, but how else did I explain the way Matthew’s eyes took on a kind of softness that I’d only seen one other time?
Matthew shook his head and downed the water. “I’m not asking you to change her grade. I’m not an idiot.”
“That’s up for debate.” Roberto threw the jab in with the finesse of years of friendship. He grinned, laughing wildly when Matthew rolled his eyes. “You’re regressing. Look at that, already rolling your eyes like you’re eighteen again.”
“God, you’re annoying.” Matthew laughed when Roberto threw a hand over his heart and staggered back like he’d been shot. He turned toward me and raised his eyebrows in a pleading look. “Tutor her.”
“Why?” I drilled Matthew with a glare.
“Because she’s phenomenal. She deserves a chance to sing for the world. It’s not her fault she can’t afford college without a scholarship. She shouldn’t be punished for not being able to hire tutors.”
“So not only do you expect me to do this, you want me to tutor her for free.” The longer Matthew talked, the more I disliked the idea.
“Come on.” Matthew splayed his hands on the counter. “You’re an amazing tutor. You’re the only reason Roberto and I made it through our college math classes.”
True. It wasn’t that I was opposed to tutoring Harmony. Matthew was right. She shouldn’t be punished for lacking the funds for her education. What bothered me was the immediate reaction in my body when I thought about her.
