She nods, half shrugging.
I swallow. This went well. “Okay.”
She picks up her pencil. I pick up mine. We go back to 5.7. It’s not the same session it was twenty minutes ago. The air is different.
She reads 5.8 aloud. Her voice has gone back a quarter-step toward the voice from the porch on Friday — the one that came out when she was telling me about her mom.
I appreciate it. I work on the problem and get it correct. This one earns me a smile.
“Good.”
“Thank you.”
We get to the last one on the practice set, and I get it without a problem.
Our time is up, so we pack at the same speed, both of us slower than necessary and both of us aware of it. She slides her laptop into her tote. I close the notebook and put it in my backpack.
“I saw there was a reschedule, and I approved of it.”
I smile, knowing that I made the request this morning, but I’ll never admit it to her. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow at nine?”
She nods and zips the front pocket of her bag.
We’re both standing now on either side of the table.
“Okay then,” she says, Camdenking the silence.
“Okay.”
I open the door for her and watch her walk to the elevator. She turns around when it opens, lifting a hand. I wave back. We stare at each other until the doors close.
I make it to Hawthorne at six-fourteen. The kitchen smells like Rowan’s chicken. Stanley is on the couch yelling at the Lions. I sit down at the kitchen island, and Blue puts a protein shake in front of me without asking.
Blue looks at me, and I nod. He nods once and goes back to whatever he is doing at the cutting board. I chug the protein shake.
“Where the fuck’s Percy?”
Rowan looks around. “He was just in here.”
“Pers!” I shout.
“Percy’s taking a shit,” Stanley calls out.
I shake my head and yell, “You’re not going to believe this shit, man.”
Percy rounds the corner. He wasn’t taking a shit. “What?” he asks.
“You know those mango chunks you put in the punch?”
“Yeah, it’s my specialty.”
“They made Lucy sick all week.”
Blue turns his head, and Rowan makes a sound.
Stanley walks over from the couch and says, “Why are we still talking about the tutor?”
“Percy’s punch got her fucking sick, man. I feel like shit about it.”
