Page 18 of Wild About You
“Whatever.”
“Bye, Ms. Vaughn.”
“See you tomorrow,” I say as she huffs out the door.
Tyler takes three steps farther into the room.
“Stopping her from seeing her friends isn’t going to win you any points,” I say as I stand and clean up our supplies.
“No, probably not.” His gaze drops to the table where Everly’s name drawing lies. “She did that?”
“Yeah. In half the time it took me to do mine,” I say as I wave a hand toward my paper.
“Ms. Vaughn.” He reads it, one side of his mouth lifting in a grin.
“Did you need to talk to me about something?” I take Everly’s and my work to my desk, turning my back to Tyler.
I feel his presence move with me.
“How’s she doing?”
“She should be done with the backdrops by the end of next week.” I point to the back of the room where they sit.
“I don’t just mean with that. Is she fitting in? Are her grades okay?”
“That’s probably a conversation you should have with her.”
“You know as well as I do that she’ll either refuse to answer me or give me some bullshit response.”
“If you’re worried about her art grade, then I’d be happy to set up a time with the regular art teacher, Mrs. Aaron. I’m just student teaching.”
He takes another step into my space. “I don’t want to talk to Mrs. Aaron. I want to hear it from you. I trust you, Pipes, and I just want to know that I made the right decision sending her here.”
I can see how much he cares about his sister, how worried he is, but this is not something I can answer for him. I see her for an hour a day, two now that we’re working together after school. It’s a glimpse of her entire day.
“I can’t give you that.” I take a deep breath as I move away.
He nods, but still doesn’t leave. “You didn’t respond to my text.”
I hum, a noncommittal sound like maybe I didn’t get it.
“I’d love to take you to dinner and catch up, talk about Everly.”
“I can’t have dinner with you, Tyler.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m seeing someone. Because I’m your sister’s teacher. Because…” I trail off. You broke my heart. It feels ridiculous to say that out loud. Nobody finds the love of their life at eighteen. So why am I still so affected by him?
His throat works with a swallow and his jaw flexes. “Drinks? Coffee? It’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough.”
Hurt flashes in his eyes. “I deserve that, but I would still like to talk about Everly. I think there are things you should know that might help you understand her better.”
“Mrs. Best or the counselor, Mr.—”
“You, Pipes. I want to tell you. You’re the only one I trust not to treat her differently. You never did me.”
