Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ZERO
I was trying to figure out a new plan to get Jasper to give the crew a chance when the doorbell rang.
I’d been away from my crew for too long, it was starting to wear on me.
Going from work to childcare all without any breaks was exhausting.
Wraith started small with Xander, only introducing a few guys at a time, maybe I needed to do it that way with Jasper too.
Something to show him they weren’t as bad as he thought.
My attention was on my phone when I pulled the door open, and when I looked up, I nearly dropped it on my foot. I yelped, jumping out of the way, and Simone’s mouth twisted like she was trying not to laugh.
“Simone! Uh, hey! Did, uh, did we have a tutoring session planned for today? Jasper never mentioned anything.”
“I can see that.” Her eyes trailed over me and I remembered belatedly that I’d not gotten dressed for the day yet.
I was still in my pajama pants, sans shirt because Isla threw a handful of applesauce at me at breakfast and I hadn’t bothered to grab something else.
It was a little embarrassing since it was closing in on lunch time, but from the look she gave me, she wasn’t complaining.
I felt my chest puff out a little, and had to seriously resist the urge to lean in for a kiss when I stepped out of the way to let her in and she brushed past me.
Remembering her soft lips against mine was like sweet torture.
I wanted more. If I were a little younger, I wouldn’t have the patience to wait until Jasper was out of her class.
“So what’s up?” I prompted after closing the door. It was warming up, cold didn’t stick around long this far south, but the winds today were brutal and I’d caved and turned on the heat when Jasper started complaining and Isla wouldn’t stop crying.
“Jasper asked me to sit down with you and him and plan for Isla’s educational future,” she explained, toeing off her shoes as I took her jacket. She was dressed casually for once in jeans and a sweater, but I didn't have time to enjoy the look. I frowned at her.
“Educational future? She’s not even a year old yet.”
I thought I had a few years before I had to worry about teaching her anything. I was going to ask Butch when she got a little older what I needed to do.
“Babies can learn just as well as older kids can, and when you start them young, they end up with the kind of confidence and skills Jasper has thanks to his mother’s early lessons. He wants the same for Isla, and he asked me to help since he wants her to learn math like he did.”
Well, I wasn’t about to argue. I was a little worried Isla would be outdoing me in math before she even started school, but I’d deal with that when the time came.
Maybe I’d get a tutor for myself at some point.
Just to have a clue what she was learning.
A sly grin tugged at my lips as I considered asking Simone to be my tutor.
Maybe once she wasn’t Jasper’s teacher, I’d ask.
I could be a good student for her. Or she could punish me somehow. That’d be hot.
“Sure, lemme just get Jasper. It’s naptime right now, so I don’t wanna be yelling up the stairs.”
She waved me off, already heading to the table. I liked that she was comfortable here, and I had a smile on my face when I knocked quietly on Jasper’s door. I always waited for him to invite me in, but he surprised me when he opened the door instead of just calling out for me to enter.
“What?” he murmured, keeping his voice low so he didn’t wake Isla.
Keeping the same volume, I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “Your math teacher is here. Did you forget to tell me we were meeting with her about teaching Isla?”
His wince said he didn’t do it on purpose, which honestly felt like progress to me. He wasn’t keeping it from me because he didn’t trust me or because he didn’t like me. He forgot. I forgot shit all the time. I let him off without drawing attention to it, tipping my head toward the stairs.
“Come on. You two can walk me through what you want to do and how I can help.”
He looked me over with a frown. “You’re going to meet with her dressed like that?”
Did I want to tell a thirteen year old I liked the way she looked at me half dressed? No, that probably wouldn’t go over well.
“I’ll get changed real quick, meet you down there. Sounds good?”
He nodded, pulling his door open fully. When I looked inside I couldn’t help but snicker. “Dude. Didn’t there used to be a carpet in there?”
He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you going to start demanding I clean my room?”
I shrugged, making a face. “No. That sounds like a pain. You’re thirteen, you’re old enough to do that stuff on your own. But if you don’t want to do all that laundry on your own, just throw it in with my stuff in the laundry room. I’ll do it.”
My response seemed to shock him, but I wasn’t sure why. I did Isla’s clothes with mine all the time. The only reason I hadn’t done Jasper’s laundry yet was because he’d told me he could do it himself and to not touch his stuff. I respected his boundaries.
“I’m gonna change quick. Offer Simone a drink, will you? It’s the polite thing to do when someone does you a favor.”
Ducking into my room, I changed into a pair of worn jeans and an old band t-shirt. I ran a comb through my hair, considered shaving off the stubble on my chin, then decided against it. Isla liked the texture. She’d taken to playing with my face lately and it was cute.
Creeping past Isla’s room, since that little girl would scream like a banshee if anyone woke her up early, I tiptoed down the stairs and let out a breath when I reached the landing.
Simone’s laugh caught my attention and when I glanced at her, she gave me an amused look, tipping her head toward Jasper when I cocked an eyebrow in question. “You two came down the stairs in exactly the same way.”
I made a face, moving to join them in the kitchen. “That baby can rattle windows when she gets worked up. One of the quickest ways to piss her off is to interrupt nap time. We’ve learned to stay quiet or face her wrath.”
Jasper nodded in agreement, and I felt my spirits lift a little higher. I wouldn’t call us close, but in the past week, we’d been getting along a little better. At least enough to where I didn’t feel like I needed to walk on eggshells around him.
“He’s right. She’s always been like that. Mom said women need their sleep, and to never wake a sleeping baby.”
“Your mom was right,” Simone agreed. “Let’s use the time to our advantage, shall we?
” She pulled out some papers from her purse, spreading them out on the table.
“I did some research on early childhood development and made a list of things we can start doing now. I’m sure there are things you’re already doing on the list, feel free to ignore those. ”
To both our shock, Jasper pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, adding his own list to the pile. “This is what I remember Mama teaching me,” he mumbled awkwardly. “I’m not sure I have the ages right, but I tried to remember what she told me and what she and Mom planned for Isla.”
It took work not to say something that would piss him off. I lost track of the number of times I’d wanted to tell him the way he cared about his sister was sweet or cute. I got the feeling he’d hit me if I tried.
“This is an excellent list, Jasper. We can definitely use it to guide our planning.”
Her praise seemed to have its desired effect because he straightened and brightened a little.
Reading over the list, I frowned at how much shit we were supposed to be doing already.
I didn’t teach her anything yet. Aside from a few curse words I was glad she wasn’t old enough to repeat yet when she went with me on jobs.
That feeling that I was holding the kids back sat heavily on my shoulders just looking at how far behind I already was.
What if taking them in only made things worse for them?
Sticking them with an electrician barely scraping by with the new expenses who couldn’t follow along with math for the life of him felt like I was doing them more harm than good.
“She’s supposed to know all this already?”
A hand settled on my forearm and when I forced myself to look up at Simone, she pressed her lips together, her expression reassuring.
“This is more than most people do for their babies. Jasper asked me to put this together because it’s what his mothers would have wanted.
You aren’t behind by not having done anything on this list yet.
You’re just not thinking like a math professor. ”
I huffed out a laugh. “I barely passed high school. Professor is so far out of my league, it’s not even funny.”
“From what I’ve learned over the years, teachers are the most pushy parents,” she explained with a chagrined smile. “They know what kids are capable of, and usually have a life plan on education before their kids are even born.”
Jasper nodded, speaking up in my defense for the first time since we met. “She’s right. None of my other friends back home did math games with their parents after school like I did. Mom said she never did that stuff with her family either. Mama was the math person. She did things different.”
Looking up at him, I made a face. “I’m not sure if I should feel bad for you or praise your mama for teaching you like she did.”
He snorted and Simone had to nudge my foot with hers to stop me from gaping at him. Jasper responding well to my jokes was so rare, I was pretty sure it’d only happened once since he showed up. I didn’t know how to react.
“Don’t feel bad for me. I like math. And it’s kind of fun being smarter than my cousin who’s like ancient compared to me.”
That time, my mouth really did fall open. “Ancient?” I squawked in protest. “I’m thirty five!”
He eyed me up and down, his nose wrinkled. “You sure? You look older.”
I wasn’t sure whether to complain about the insult or rejoice the teasing tone. He was playing with me. I’d take him talking shit if we made it to a point where we got along. Even if he made me feel old.