Chapter 12 Then
Then
“Brady! You’re back,” I said when Beau’s brother walked into the tutoring center.
I’d known he was coming—he was on my schedule.
But I liked to make the kids feel welcome.
There were only two other tutors in the center today, Beau and a college guy named Cliff.
It was the week before Thanksgiving break and it was slow. Our boss, Lana, was in the back office.
Beau looked up from where he was working with a third-grade boy on reading. For the past thirty minutes I’d listened to him overpronounce his e’s and a’s. I even silently mocked him across the room. He shot me hard eyes but his mouth curved into a smirk.
Now he was wrapping up with his student as his brother came in. Brady looked a lot like him—blue eyes, loose curls, tall and lanky.
“Hey, Indy,” Brady said, his eyes on the ground as he maneuvered around desks to get to mine at the back of the large room.
“That was not a very happy hey,” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“I got a C on my last math test. My mom made me come back.”
I cringed. His mom would be horrified over that grade, even though I thought that for a kid who struggled with math, it was a solid effort.
It had been over a month since he was last here. I’d thought he picked up on the concepts well, but that was the challenge with math—there were new concepts every unit, and they built on the last ones, so if you fell behind, it was hard to turn it around.
“Math is hard,” I said. “And everyone has a different way of learning things. Maybe I didn’t figure out your way last time. We’re going to try a few different methods this time. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” he said.
“Do you like music?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Okay, let’s use some music.”
Beau was passing my desk, walking his student out. He squeezed my shoulder on his way by and mouthed, “Thank you.”
My cheeks heated up and I quickly looked away from him.
“You like better music than my brother,” Brady said.
I laughed.
“Hey, I heard that,” Beau said from across the way. He was cleaning up his station. Cliff had left fifteen minutes ago.
Brady and I were listening to music in between concepts. I was trying to help him relax more. We even put a couple of ideas to a beat. I didn’t have a good voice, like Beau did, but I agreed, my taste in music was much better.
“Let the boy have an opinion,” I said.
Brady laughed. His time was almost up, and I watched out the glass door as his mom’s car pulled up out front.
I was surprised he wasn’t going home with Beau.
But maybe she’d been running errands in the neighborhood for the last hour.
Or maybe it was because Beau had given me a ride today and he needed to take me home.
“Watermelon or grape?” I asked, holding up two Jolly Ranchers.
“Watermelon,” he said.
“Another correct opinion.”
He unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth.
“Do you feel like you understand negative exponents a little more now?”
He nodded. “I think so.”
“You got this.”
“Thanks,” he said with a smile, standing and putting his backpack on. “Maybe I should come next week too.”
“Next week is Thanksgiving. But the week after that for sure,” I said. “Tell your mom to schedule a good time online.”
He nodded and waved to his brother.
“Bye,” Beau said. Then he waited for Brady to be out the door and all the way into the car before he turned to me and said, “You’re good with him.”
“I’m sure you would be too. You’re just his brother, and he doesn’t listen to you as well.”
“I bet your siblings would listen to you all the time,” he said. “Hang on your every word.”
I laughed. “Of course they would.”
“But seriously, I think you’re more laid-back than me, and that’s better for him.”
“Well, that too,” I said, throwing the grape Jolly Rancher at him.
He caught it, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. “You have any more appointments today?”
“No, he was my last.” I stacked my papers and supplies, then grabbed a Lysol wipe from the container on the front desk.
“I need your playlist,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“You need to put together a playlist for me of all the best music so that I can be cool.”
“Yes, I do,” I said.
“I’m serious,” he said, maybe noting the smirk on my face.
“Oh, I know. So am I.” My playlist wasn’t all that special. It was just good songs from a wide variety of genres. I didn’t really have one standout artist or type. Maybe that’s why it was good—variety. Or maybe it was another area of my life that I couldn’t find a focus or passion about.
Beau went to the office door and knocked. There was a muffled “Come in,” and he opened the door.
“Indy and I are done for the day,” he said.
“Thank you. See you next time.”
“Bye, Lana!” I called, even though I couldn’t see her.
“Bye!” she said.
We walked outside to Beau’s car. It was a fairly new two-door Corolla with the tiniest back seat—the reason Ava refused to let Beau drive in the carpool. I buckled my seat belt as he turned the key in the ignition.
“I’m going to start your playlist now,” I said, pulling out my phone and opening Spotify. “I’m going to title it Cool Like Indy.”
“Must you?”
“I must.”
He chuckled. “Oh, my mom wanted to make sure you knew that your family is invited to Thanksgiving dinner at our place.”
“Tell her thank you. Maybe we’ll actually take her up on that invite this year.”
“Yeah?” he asked, looking over his shoulder to back out of the parking space. His arm brushed my shoulder as he did and the scent of grape Jolly Rancher invaded my senses. This combination made my stomach flutter.
I ignored it with everything in me. “I’ve heard nothing about Thanksgiving.
I’m guessing my mom isn’t hosting anything.
Going to yours would be easier.” Normally we had my aunt, her husband, and their three kids over.
They lived a couple of hours away. My mom’s parents had both passed about five years ago.
And my dad’s parents lived all the way on the other side of the country near my dad’s sister. We rarely saw them.
“Easier for you, maybe,” he said with a laugh.
“Is your grandpa coming?”
“He sure is.”
I cringed. “Yeah, maybe I won’t be passing that message on to my mom. Your grandpa scares me.”
“You’d rather be alone with your parents, who are being weird?” he asked.
“You make a good point,” I said.
“So they are still being weird?”
“Yes.” Whispered conversations. Tense standoffs. I knew it wasn’t nothing.
“Wait, that car you were telling me about? You think the two are related?”
“I don’t know.” I hadn’t seen the car for a few days. So it probably was just someone visiting family. Or they saw me staring and realized I was onto them, so they were being more careful. I wasn’t onto anything. I had no idea why they’d hang out there. “Maybe. Probably not.”
“Sorry,” he said.
I shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Let me know when you’ve cracked the case.”