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“I know, honey. And she understands.”
From the way Isaiah shifted in his seat, I wasn’t sure he was entirely convinced. I knew from years of conversations that he and his sister didn’t always get along, but she had to understand that his job made certain demands, right?
I didn’t say anything about it, though.
Isaiah casually draped his arm around my shoulders. “Ella must be excited about the party.”
Laura’s expression brightened again as she nodded. “She was going to have it last weekend, but she and her friends all wanted to go to each other’s parties. So they had their parents coordinate them so the schedules wouldn’t clash.” She laughed, looking and sounding fond. “It’s a close group of friends. All good kids.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Ella.” He turned to me. “She’s been doing honors and AP for the past few years, and I guess she’s made friends with the kids she met in there.”
With a nervous chuckle, I said, “Academia must run in the family.”
Tom barked a laugh. “Ooh, no it doesn’t.”
“What?” I cocked my head. “But he’s a…” I turned to Isaiah. “Wait, were you one of those kids who slacked off in school, but then grew up to be a teacher?”
His blush said it all.
“This guy.” Tom wagged a finger at Isaiah. “Any time we asked him if his homework was done, you’d have thought we were telling him to cut off his own hand.”
“Really?” I grinned up at Isaiah. “You, who complains about his students not finishing their homework?”
Laura smothered a laugh. “One of these days, I should show up and tell your students what kind of student you were.”
The sudden horror on Isaiah’s face made me snort. “Don’t you dare, Mom. Please.”
“Why ever not?” She batted her eyelashes at him. “I think they’d get a kick out of it!”
Isaiah groaned and covered his face with one hand. “Oh my God.”
“If it weren’t for extra credit and understanding teachers,” Tom said, “I don’t think he’d have graduated at all.”
“Uh-huh.” I elbowed Isaiah playfully. “This from the guy who was all judgy because I was a crappy student.”
“I wasn’t judgy!” He lowered his hand and turned a plaintive look on me. “I totally wasn’t.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
He held that pleading expression for a second, then rolled his eyes and pulled me back in. “Quiet, you.”
I just chuckled and leaned into him. “Well, now I get why you offer your kids so much extra credit.” I patted his chest. “Been there, done that?”
“Something like that.”
Tom nodded slowly. “That sounds like my boy. Anything to set up his kids for success.” He paused, then added an amused, “He’s definitely been there, done that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Isaiah muttered as his parents and I chuckled, but his eyes were dancing, so I didn’t think he was too bothered by the playful ribbing.
The conversation continued like that, with his parents sharing stories of his childhood and asking me about hockey. The whole time, his mom still seemed… edgy. She was polite, but wary in a way I couldn’t quite define. Almost like she was leaning hard on manners and decorum, but was about as comfortable as if Isaiah and I were exes who’d recently reconciled or something, and she hadn’t yet warmed up to me.
I called on all my media training to keep my smile in place and carry on my part of the conversation so it sounded effortless and natural. The whole time, though, I had to fight the urge to twitch and shift.
By the time Isaiah and I went to get settled into our room while Tom and Laura made dinner, I was exhausted, and I didn’t think it was from the long drive.
Toeing the door shut behind us, Isaiah quietly asked, “You okay?”
I turned to him. “Hmm?”
