“I bet you give him homework, though,” Dallas said, grinning. When I didn’t answer right away, his gaze narrowed. “Oh my god, you do, don’t you?”
“Research is helpful!”
“What do you even—no, you know what? I don’t want to know the details.” He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jesus, Avery.”
“What?”
He shook his head as though he’d just walked into my room andfound me, and everything around me, covered in poster paints. Which, in fairness, hadn’t happened nearly as much in the last decade as it had in the previous one. “You know that you can justdatethe guy, right? Like, I know I’m Mr. Boundaries over here, but there is actually nothing wrong with you dating a parent, just so long as you disclose it to your principal and you’re not, you know, stupid about it.”
It took a second for that to sink in. “I can?”
Dallas gave me a look that clearly said I was an idiot. “Check your staff protocols to be sure, but I’ve never known it to be an issue in any school I’ve worked at.”
Huh.
Maybe Icouldask Wilder out, or at least float the idea of dating. And yeah, he’d said he didn’t do relationships. But that had been weeks ago when we’d first started this and it had just been about sex. Things might have changed since then.
Except what exactly had changed? Wilder still had two jobs, he still had a five-year-old to take care of, and he was still snowed under. The only difference now was thatIwanted it to be something more. And that had never been part of the deal.
“I don’t want to date Wilder,” I said. “It’s good, the way it is. It’s fun and it’scasual.”
If Dallas could tell I was lying, he was good enough not to call me out on it. “Okay, if you say so. But if you ever change your mind, at least you won’t have to overthink the part about breaking the rules. Just,boundaries, remember? And not just with dating, but with whatever you want to call this. It could get messy because his kid is in your class.”
“I know,” I said. “But it won’t, it’s?—”
“Casual, sure,” Dallas said, his mouth quirking. “How are you not overthinking this when you overthink everything?”
“I’m still thinking about Times New Roman,” I said. “I don’t have any room for anything else right now.”
Dallas laughed, but I could see the concern in his eyes. “Just be careful, okay, Avery?”
“I will,” I said, flushing. “I know, with, like school and everything… I know.”
“Yeah,” he said and reached forward and punched me gently in the chest. “With school too.”
Nobody toldme Bobby Merritt would be at the twins’ party—or that he’d bring his goose. The first I knew about it was the following Saturday when I was crossing the yard between our houses with a container of potato salad, and the goose rushed at me in a wild flurry of feathers and anger. I yelled and tried not to drop the potato salad while the goose jabbed and bit around my knees.
“Now, now, Lucille!” Bobby exclaimed, swooping in to rescue me like Temu Captain America—it was his stars and stripes shorts. “That ain’t very neighborly! Oooh, is that potato salad?”
He hefted Lucille under his arm, where she glared at me while he snapped a lead onto her harness before setting her down. I took a few steps back in case she made a break for it, but she just gave a single indignant honk before poking her beak into the garden bed, presumably looking for something smaller than my knees to eat.
“Thanks,” I said, edging around Lucille and heading for the front porch with my salad clutched to my chest.
The door was open, so I didn’t bother to knock. I’d already been over earlier to hang the decorations I’d made with Gracie’s help. I hoped the twins wanted a pink-glitter-unicorn-themed party because that was what they were getting. Gracie had been adamant.
I put the salad in the refrigerator and made my way out to the back porch where Danny handed me a beer.
“Hey,” I said, pulling my gaze away from where Wilder was sitting on the bench that ran along the back of the house, “did you know Bobby’s here with his goose?”
Danny pulled a face. “Yeah. I asked him if we could switch Chase’s schedule around so we both had the afternoon off and explained we were having a birthday party, and he said sure and what time should he come around? And I couldn’t exactly tell him no, you know?”
“I get it,” I said. My gaze found Wilder again, and his slight smile sent my heart racing stupidly. We hadn’t seen each other all week except in passing, and I was shocked at how much I’d missed him.
“And Chase actually likes the goose, the weirdo,” Danny said. “So I guess we can call Lucille part of the entertainment?”
“Hey, Lucille’s awesome,” Chase said, coming over to stand near us. He was wearing a unicorn party hat. “She’s not a people pleaser, and I can respect that.”
Danny shuddered. “As long as she stays the fu-flipaway from me.” He threw a sideways glance over at Gracie, who was sitting on Cash’s lap and threading friendship bracelets onto his wrists. There was a stuffed frog on her lap.
