Chapter 24
ASHER
Besides class, I haven’t seen Summer in over a week. Calling her my ‘girlfriend’ seems inadequate for how I’m feeling. Since we spent the last few days of the break together, I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other better than I’ve learned about previous partners in months.
She spent the weekend at my apartment, only leaving to feed her cat before returning.
We spent as much time in bed as we did talking and cooking together, watching each other’s favorite movies, and ordering food in.
Though every time we had food delivered, it was a shameful reminder that it wasn’t safe for us to go out as a normal couple would.
Even though we’ve barely seen each other, we have been texting every day.
She’s been too busy this week finalizing an essay I assigned, and even though I’ve never actually wanted to punch myself in the face before, the urge has grown stronger with every passing day—especially when I think about how busy I’ll be grading papers, which will probably leave even less time with Summer.
I’m nursing a beer at The Pour House, pathetically hoping Summer will stop by so I have an excuse to talk with her in person, when my phone rings. I eagerly answer it, hoping Summer has found some free time and is saying she’s on her way over to my place.
“Geez, that was fast,” my sister’s voice says across the line. “Waiting for a particular someone to call?”
I can tell that Juliet means to be supportive, but I can also hear the wariness in her tone. She’d made it clear that she didn’t think me having feelings for my student made me a bad person, but she was worried about the repercussions of it getting out.
“Maybe,” I respond, deciding now is as good a time as any to tell her.
“Is this the someone we’ve discussed previously?”
“Yes.”
She pauses, and I can hear Terra blabbering in the background. “Are you seeing her now?”
“Yes.”
“Are you being… safe about it?”
“Yes, Mom, we’re using protection,” I answer sarcastically.
“Asher,” she barks, making me feel like we’re just two kids bickering again, and a wave of what I can only describe as homesickness washes over me.
“Yes, we’re being careful. We only spend time together in my apartment, and I’m making sure that I am not giving her any sort of special treatment when it comes to her assignments.
” Not the Summer needs any sort of help.
Her essays are astoundingly well-thought-out and thorough when it comes to the more technical side of children’s psychology.
“Does she make you happy?” my sister asks, quieter this time.
“Yes,” I say softly. I clear my throat at the sudden tightness I feel there. “Yes, she does.”
“Then I’m happy for you.”
“Enough about me,” I chuckle. “What’s been going on with you? Any chance you’re considering coming home for Christmas?”
I hear her let out an exasperated sigh, and I already know what her answer will be. “I don’t think so. I’m still finding my feet here, and I don’t want to take Terra on a plane, germs and all…” she trails off lamely.
Well, at least she’s aware that her excuses are getting worse and worse.
“Juliet,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Mom and Dad just want to see you. They want to meet Terra—hell, I want to meet her! I don’t understand why you just can’t—”
“You don’t need to understand,” she snaps, cutting me off. “You just have to respect that I don’t want to come home and that I won’t be bringing my daughter to Seattle anytime soon.” I let the call fall into silence, not sure what to say after both of our outbursts.
I may never understand why she refuses to come home, but she’s right, I do need to respect her decision and stop trying to pressure her into changing her mind.
If I push her too far, she may cut off all contact with me, then none of us will know what’s going on in her life.
I’d just assumed that by not showing up at her doorstep the second she told me the name of the town, I was respecting her choices.
But every time I try to pester her about visiting, I’ve been doing the exact opposite.
I’m about to give an excuse for why I have to go when Juliet sucks in a breath, as if bracing herself for something. “What if… what if you came to spend Christmas with us?”
I freeze, not immediately processing what she’s just offered. “Is this a serious offer?” I ask. “If I’ve made you feel guilty, and that’s the only reason you’re telling me to visit, I’d rather visit on better terms.”
I can practically hear her roll her eyes through the phone.
“Jesus, Asher, just come visit for Christmas. This isn’t because I feel like you guilt-tripped me.
You’re right… Terra should meet some of her family, and just because I’m not ready to go back to Seattle right now, doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have the opportunity to form memories with people who love her. ”
It feels like my heart swells in my chest. “I’d love to come visit for Christmas. Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she snorts. “Don’t go getting sappy on me now.” I resist the urge to do just that as she continues. “But can you respect that I don’t want Mom and Dad coming just yet?”
I don’t understand, but I’ll respect it. “Yeah, I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you,” she says. “Terra will be so happy to see her uncle!” My throat tightens at the thought. “Speaking of your adorable, perfect, little niece. Do you want to talk to her?”
“Of course I want to talk to my best girl,” I respond immediately.
Terra gives an excited shriek when Juliet asks if she wants to talk with ‘Uncle Asher,’ and a grin breaks out across my face. I can’t believe I’ll finally get to meet her in a matter of weeks.
Terra promptly starts babbling as soon as the phone is held up to her. She lets me say hello, and that’s all I manage to get in before listening to her go on for a good five minutes.
Juliet laughs as she takes the phone back from Terra just as Elijah and Jared enter the bar.
Jared walks up to the bar while Elijah saunters over to the booth I’ve commandeered.
“Who’s that?” Elijah mouths as he takes a seat across from me.
I cover the receiver before saying, “Juliet.”
He holds out his hand to say hi. I remember them spending some time together before she dropped out of college, so it’s not too weird that he wants to say hi after so long.
But after Juliet’s last reaction to Eli asking about her, I hesitate to hand the phone over.
He rolls his eyes and plucks it from my hand.
I can just barely hear Juliet’s voice over the chatter of the patrons around us, but I can’t make out what she says.
“Hi, Juliet,” Eli says with a smirk and a mischievous spark in his bright blue eyes. He pulls the phone away from his ear to look at the screen before passing it back to me. “She hung up.”
“Why?” I question, narrowing my eyes at him.
He shrugs. “No clue. Maybe she’s not my biggest fan.”
“Is there a reason for that?” I swear to God, if he did something to upset her…
“I’ve always been a bit of an asshole, haven’t I?” he drawls.
That’s true, but I make a mental note to ask Juliet about Eli later.
Jared finally joins us, setting down three drinks. He nudges me over, and I begrudgingly make room for him. “Looked like you could use another beer,” he says, nodding toward my nearly empty drink. He takes a healthy sip of his before looking between Eli and me. “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing,” we answer in unison.
“Nothing at all,” Elijah smiles before gulping down half of his own beer. His eyes dart to mine, something dark flashing across the blue of his irises.
I’ll definitely be questioning both Elijah and Juliet about what happened today. Until I find out why they’re being so weird, this is something I won’t be letting go of anytime soon.
I’ve deep cleaned my entire apartment to keep myself busy. It’s Saturday, Summer turned her paper in yesterday, and I’ve decided that it’s okay if grading this round of essays takes me a bit longer than usual. Who’s going to care if they don’t get their grades for an additional week?
We both finally have a spare moment to breathe, and Summer texted me this afternoon asking if she could come over for dinner. I’d said yes immediately, but now it feels like I answered her hours ago.
I try to think of anything else that I can do that doesn’t involve pathetically waiting for her to arrive, but after staring at the same page in a book for ten minutes, I give up entirely.
The door to my apartment swings open, and Summer waltzes in with a burst of excitement.
A small sense of joy settles deep in my chest at the familiarity she’s showing.
“Okay,” she starts, kicking the door shut behind her and dropping her bag on the floor.
A small smile tugs at my lips as I continue to take in how comfortable she now feels here.
She used to be so hesitant, like she thought things could change at any moment, and she didn’t want to get used to anything.
But now she’s starting to think that this could be permanent.
We could be permanent. Or at least I hope that’s what she’s starting to think, since I’ve been thinking about it myself.
“I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but I did absolutely kill my paper on Adlerian theory! ” she boasts.
She approaches me, light in her eyes and a huge grin plastered across her lips, before giving me a gentle kiss.
Her excitement for my class warms my heart.
It’s nice when you can see that a student genuinely cares about the class and its assignments, not just trying to scrape by with a passing grade.
I’d always known Summer was the type of student who loved learning and valued her education, but it’s nice to be able to talk about it and see her passion shine through.
“You think so?” I mused.
“Oh, I know so.” She smirked.
“Think I should read it first?” I ask.
Her smile doesn’t disappear, but she does take on a slightly more serious tone. “I’d never ask you to do something like that.”
“I know,” I say, squeezing her hand for reassurance, before letting a mischievous grin take over. “But I already read it in between classes yesterday.”
“You did?” she asks, nearly hopping up and down with excitement all over again.
I laugh. “Do you want to see it?”
She pauses mid-celebration. “Is that… okay?”
I shrug. “Honestly? Probably not, but you didn’t ask to see it, I’m offering. What’s one more broken rule?”
She chews on her bottom lip, mulling it over. “I do really want to see it,” she states with a guilty smile. I’m already walking over to my bag to sort through the papers before she’s finished talking.
“Here,” I say, handing it over to her with a smile.
She slowly grabs it from me, as if she thinks I’ll change my mind and pull it away from her. Her eyes first catch on the grade written at the top in red pen.
“A ninety-four?” she gasps. At first, I think she’s upset that I didn’t give her a perfect score, but that ugly thought quickly fades as she starts jumping around again.
“I knew I killed this paper. I told you I did!” Her joy is infectious, and I have the urge to hop around with her.
She throws herself into my arms and kisses me.
Before I can pull her tighter against me or deepen the kiss, she darts away, waving the paper.
“I’m gonna look over the rest of this!” she hollers over her shoulder as she dashes for the bedroom.
“Okay,” I call after her. “I’ll just order a pizza?”
“I knew you’d love that line!” is the only response she offers, and she can’t see it, but it earns another grin from me.