Page 42 of Wild About You
“No.” I laugh and breathe a sigh of relief to have that conversation out of the way.
“Tell me more about school stuff. Are you teaching or observing?”
For the next fifteen minutes, I give him the rundown of my first few weeks at Park Academy. I tell him everything I’ve done, the teachers, the students. When I finally take a breath, I add, “I still think I want to teach middle school, but high school has been good practice.”
Chris checks his watch. “Oh shit. I need to go soon. I have an eight o’clock today.”
“Right. I need to go too.”
He stands and comes over to drop a kiss on my cheek. “Are you free this weekend?”
“I’ll have to look. Call you later?”
He nods and starts to the door, talking over his shoulder. “Think you can get me an autograph?”
* * *
I’m in the kitchen trying to acclimate myself with where everything is located in this massive space. Ash has every utensil and gadget you can imagine, but the pantry and fridge are pathetic.
“We eat out a lot,” Everly says from where she sits behind the island.
“Okay, well…” I grab a box of pasta. “Looks like we’ll have to get creative.”
While I find everything I need, Everly continues to sit in the room with me, playing on her phone.
She reminds me so much of her brother. They both have this quiet presence that somehow fills the space in this nice, comforting way.
When I finally set a bowl in front of her, Everly drops her phone to the counter.
“What is it?”
“Pasta surprise.” I shrug.
She takes a hesitant bite, but then her mouth curves up. “It’s good.”
“Living on student loans the past few years, I’ve gotten pretty good at finding creative ways to make pasta out of just about anything in the pantry.”
She studies me for a second. “I thought you were from some rich family.”
“Was. It’s a long story.”
She shrugs. “I’ve got time. River is at work for another hour.”
I take the seat next to her with my pasta. “Well, my dad owned a company that got into some financial trouble and eventually had to liquidate. Everything he built was just gone. It was awful, but he was so smart and determined. He threw himself into a new start-up.” My thoughts are wistful as I remember him sitting at the dining room table with his laptop, papers strewn all around, and a dozen empty coffee mugs in front of him.
“I’m guessing it wasn’t successful?”
“It never got off the ground. He had a stroke that severely impacted his speech and memory.”
“I’m so sorry,” Everly says.
“Thanks. My parents sold everything, and he and my mom bought a cute little place on a lake upstate. I think they’re happy, all things considered, and that’s all that really matters.”
She regards me for a moment. “I thought growing up broke was bad, but I think that having money and losing it would be worse. Except…I guess you probably still got to keep some of your nice stuff, huh?”
I think about the Gucci bracelet I loved so much. The one I gave to Tyler every time he left and told him to keep until we saw each other again. It was silly, but I guess I thought if he held on to it, he’d always have a reason to see me again.
“I’m grateful for the life I had growing up but being broke gives you character.”
