Page 40 of Inferno
Chapter 10
“Okay. Let me try this again.” With her thick brows furrowed in concentration, Taylor methodically went through the steps for solving a quadratic equation by factoring. When she’d finished the problem, she slid her paper over to Manning and asked hopefully, “Is that right?”
He scanned her work, then nodded approvingly and raised his hand to her.“High five.”
Whooping with delight, Taylor slapped her palm against his.“Finally!”
Manning grinned. “I knew you could do it.”
She beamed with gratitude. “Thank yousooomuch, Manning. I was beginning to think I’dneverbe able to solve the problem, even after two days of listening to Mr. Langenkamp’s explanations.” She gave Manning an awed look. “You’re a good teacher.”
“Not really,” he said, shrugging off the praise. “You were on the right track. You were just making it harder than necessary.”
“Precalculusishard.”
Manning grinned, rising from the table with their dessert plates.“Piece of cake?”
Taylor snorted. “Maybe toyou, but not—”
“No,” Manning said with a chuckle, “I was offering you another piece of cake.”
“Oh.” Taylor laughed,thenshook her head at him. “I’d better not. I’ve already had two slices.”
“So what?Who’s counting?”
“Iam, obviously.”
“Well, you shouldn’t,” Manning told her, crossing to the counter where his great-grandmother’s famous pound cake was on display on a glass dessert stand. Removing the lid, he cut into the dense, moist cake and added a thick wedge to each plate.
As he returned to the table and handed Taylor her plate, she laughingly groaned. “If I eat this, you’re gonna think I’m such a pig.”
“No, I’m not. I’m gonna think you’re someone who appreciates a good pound cake.”
Taylor grinned. “Itisgood.” Biting into her piece, she closed her eyes with a dreamy moan. “It’sbetterthan good. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Manning chuckled. “Mama Wolf would love to hear that.”
Taylor laughed, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses. “Believeme,if I ever have the pleasure of meeting her, I’ll be sure to tell her what I just said.”
Manning smiled, polishing off his cake as he covertly studied his new friend. When she’d removed her camouflage jacket earlier, he’d tried not to cringe at the sight of the bulky, multicolored sweater she wore. Even more hideous were her bright orange pants, which hurt his eyes so bad that he’d been more than relieved when she sat down and pushed her chair under the table, sparing his retinas from further damage.
“I didn’t abandon you yesterday,” Taylor suddenly blurted.
Manning blinked, staring at her. “What’re you talking about?”
She hesitated, biting her lip. “Yesterday when Principal Henderson and Coach Delaney came to break up the fight, people were pushing and shoving really bad. I get extremely nervous in crowds, so I reached down to rub my charm because that usually calms me down. But my necklace was gone. So I panicked. While you and Rory were hauled off to the principal’s office, I ran back to all of the classes I’d had so far to see if I could find my necklace. After searching for a while, I gave up and went to the bathroom, where I locked myself in the stall and bawled my eyes out.”
Manning regarded her sympathetically. “The necklace must mean a lot to you.”
“It does.” Taylor smiled softly. “My mother gave it to me after I performed in my first violin recital.”
“You play the violin?” Manning asked.
“Yeah.”Her expression clouded. “Well, I used to. I haven’t played since we moved to Coronado last year.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged, averting her gaze to her plate. “I haven’t felt like it.”
