Page 12 of Read With Your Heart

My head tilts, wondering what his agenda would be if he did. What’s in it for him?

“Nah. I’m willing to prove myself.” It’s true. I’m looking to get wherever I’m going honestly, for once. I have a sketchbook of drawings ready to show off my talent once I’m ready.

“Okay. We can set up to meet Mrs. Drummond here. She’ll want to supervise Tom anyway, and that could take hours. Let him handle her. You okay with that?”

“Got nothing to steal here,” I say, scanning the place, knowing it isn’t great, but it’s still space. Jess quizzically looks at me and then nods once before helping himself to the door.

I call out my thanks before closing the door after him, leaning against the wood barrier and tipping my head back.

Why was I asking questions?

I don’t need any answers. I don’t want to be involved.

Lesson 7

Dialogue involves two people talking.

[Tricia]

“Hey, Tricia.” Levi’s changing voice startles me one afternoon. It’s the second week of school, and his dedication to seeing me every day hasn’t waned. He’s such a good kid despite the rest of his family. He’s the only one I miss, and I’ve been worried about him.

“Hey, baby,” I address him. His cheeks pink, and I bite my lip. Old habits will die hard when it comes to him, and I have two issues. The first one is that he’s fourteen and a freshman in high school and calling him baby might embarrass him. Secondly, while he’s my brother-in-law—future ex-brother-in-law—I’m always going to consider him partially mine. However, Trent was very clear about it. Levi was not my child, nor my sibling. After being abandoned by his mother, Trent took over the responsibility of raising his younger brother, who is sixteen years younger than him. Their father is mostly incapacitated each day from excessive drinking, so caring for Levi might be the only decent thing Trent ever did. It’s one reason I loved him in the beginning. He was devoted to his kid brother. Of course, ten years of Levi’s upbringing fell partially on my shoulders, but I didn’t begrudge it. It was a reason I wanted children of our own. It was also a reason Trent didn’t. He felt he’d already raised a child.

“You doing okay so far this year?” I ask him as I straighten the desks in my room before the lunch break. Levi wants to make the basketball team, and he needs to keep his grades up to do so. Thankfully, he’s conscious of his studies, and he knows I’ll tutor him if he needs me.

“Yeah.” His voice is quiet. The softness in his voice is similar to the way he sounds in the moments after Trent takes something out on Levi or insults him in some way. I never liked how Trent spoke to his younger brother, and we had our fair share of arguments about it. Sometimes, the result was Trent’s biting tongue lashing out at me.

“What’s going on?” I ask, pausing with my hands still on a student’s desk.

“How’s your new house?” he questions, knowing I moved out of my mother’s home where I lived most of the summer. Levi’s old enough to understand. His brother wasn’t kind to me, and I needed to leave for my own self-preservation. It killed me not to suggest Levi leave with me. Technically, with his father still alive and present in their home, Levi wouldn’t be able to explain running off to live with me. It’s a small town. Everyone knows Robert Walker’s condition. It’s one of those things where people help when they can and hold their breaths, wishing for the best for Levi. I hate the feeling.

“It’s great,” I say, hoping I don’t sound like I’m gloating. The place isn’t great, but it will be one day.

“Can I come see it sometime?” His sheepish question pokes at my chest.

“You can visit me anytime,” I say, but Levi is too young to legally drive even though he already knows how to steer a vehicle. A bigger issue is I don’t want Trent giving Levi a ride to my place. I don’t want him anywhere near it. It’s a small town, and I’ve no doubt he already knows where I live. Some nights I feel like someone’s watching me, and it’s more than the neighbor in his window across my drive. It’s a presence I sense through my front window or at the back door. I hate the sensation.

Levi shrugs before he speaks. “Maybe this weekend?” Weekends are the worst for Levi because he’s home more than normal and so is his father. With Trent considered working from home—and I use the term loosely—Saturdays and Sundays are not always pleasant days for Levi. It’s too much family togetherness, which Levi usually avoids by going to his friends’ homes.

“Sure, baby.” I wince. “I’m sorry. I’m trying not to call you baby since you’re a strapping young man of fourteen.”

Levi wrinkles his face. “How about you keep calling me baby and never use strapping young man with me again?”

I chuckle. “Deal. So, Saturday?” I hesitate. I don’t want to go to the house to pick up Levi because I don’t want to be anywhere near the Walker property.

“Perfect.” His adolescent face breaks into a grin. His rounded, little-boy features are changing into the more defined edges and angles of a young man. Soon he’ll be sporting more hair on his jaw and that voice will drop deeper. He’s going to be a looker as he ages. I only hope he won’t be a heartbreaker like his brother. “And don’t worry, I can find a ride to your place.”

He gives me another wide smile. “I gotta get to lunch,” he adds, excusing himself from the room. It’s only minutes later I realize he didn’t ask me where I live, and I shiver.

+ + +

Since the start of school, I have had my students write in a journal. Each day, they must respond to a prompt. I assure students the journal is only a conversation between them as an individual and myself unless I have concerns of self-harm or harm to others. I don’t read responses every day, but I’m a little worried about my new student, Amaryllis Ramirez. She’s quiet, shy, and keeps to herself, which caught my attention and prompted me to read through her notebook.

The first thing I notice isn’t so much what she wrote but how she wrote it. The sentence structure isn’t where I’d expect, and the spelling is phonetic in places. In other places, words are left out so I can’t be certain if what I read is what she meant to say.

Parents missing.

Lives with brother.