“You’ll let us come visit soon, right?” I ask, knowing that Mom and Dad probably don’t even know the name of the town where their daughter and granddaughter are living, just that they’re ‘somewhere near the beach’ in California. It was none of my business to force Juliet to open up more than she was willing. She’d been a troubled kid growing up, and pushing her for more than she was ready to disclose always resulted in her getting farther away from you. It had taken her hitting eighteen to finally form a proper bond with her, considering our significant age gap. Nine and a half years didn’t often feel like a lot once we were both adults, but growing up, it felt like we had decades between us.
“Yeah, once I’m good and settled,” she states, which is her normal response to that question. “But enough about me. Is there any particular reason you felt like talking to your baby sister in the middle of the night? Besides the fact that I am clearly your best friend, of course.”
“Of course,” I muse. I take a deep drink of my whiskey before topping it off, wondering if I should tell my sister what’s been going through my mind. Will she think less of me for having a creepy infatuation with my student?
My niece lets out something that is half-shriek, half-giggle in the background, and I can hear Juliet rattling some sort of toy as she tries to distract her, probably hoping to get her back to sleep. “Are you still there?” she asks after a moment.
“Yeah,” I reply, blowing out a stream of air. “I’m going to confide in you right now, but just a fair warning, it’s going to make me sound really bad.”
“Like, I’ll have to possibly lie to the cops, bad or just morally bad?” she questions. “I can work with both of those, but one is definitely going to take more preparation on my part.”
“There’s nothing technicallyillegalabout it,” I say weakly.
She pauses, and I hear the clink of a glass being set on a counter, and I have the feeling my sister is pouring herself a glass of wine. “Continue.”
“I think I’m attracted to my student,” I get out in a rush before I finish off my second glass of whiskey.
Another pause. “Can they walk into a bar?”
“Yes,” I huff out a humorless laugh. “Ironically, I see her at my favorite bar almost as often as I see her in class.”
“Could you get in trouble for dating her?”
“Absolutely.”
“Are you considering dating her?”
“No.”
“But do you want to date her?”
“No… maybe… I don’t know.”
“Does she want to date you?”
I think about the way she approached me tonight, how she laughed, and how she made that wager, how her ‘prize’ was having another drink with me later. I think about all the times she reacted to my touch as I helped her home.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It hasn’t come up.”
“Look, Asher,” she starts, taking on the tone she gets right before she starts to lecture someone. “I know you. I know you would never hold your position over someone, but I also know how much your job means to you. I don’t want to nag you, so I won’t. All I’m going to say is, be careful.”
I stare into my whiskey, and Summer’s eyes flash through my mind.
Be careful indeed.
7
SUMMER
I wake upto a throbbing ankle and a deep sense of embarrassment.
Oh my god. My Counseling Theories professor had to carry me up nine flights of stairs. I officially need to drop out of Cascadia U and never show my face anywhere that Asher might see it again.
I roll over and notice the empty water glass and painkillers bottle on my bedside table. Something uncomfortable flutters in my chest at the nice gesture. I grab the painkillers and the glass before hobbling over to the kitchen sink. I refill the glass and greedily drain the water after taking two painkillers, and try not to think about how nice Asher was to me.
He was probably just being nice. He felt bad that my phone died and that I hurt myself, and he felt like he couldn’t leave me to my own devices.
Milo butts her head against my chin, and I give her a quick scratch before pushing myself to my feet. My ankle threatensto buckle, but stays strong as I slowly limp my way toward the kitchen to feed her.
