Walker flamed red and took another step back. “Oh, sorry, you’ll be…”
I shook my head. “I almost said I was going home, but if you’re offering…”
“Oh, it’s stupid. Obviously,” he said, sending me a nervous smile. “What with you and Joel owning the bar and all. Just wanted to thank you.”
Hm. Maybe today was the day after all.
“You don’t have to do that. I was happy to be here.”
“Of course,” he said to the ground.
God. He was getting the way wrong idea. The moment stretched out between us, and… fuck it. I needed to take control of the situation. “Walker, can I ask you a question?”
His eyes flashed up to mine and went wide. A tiny droplet of sweat appeared near his hairline. “Uh, sure.” He took a deep breath, bracing for impact, so I swerved a little left of the question I’d originally intended to ask.
“Why do you get so red around me? Why do you blush so much?”
He swayed, his eyes falling back to my shoes. “Oh, I’ve always turned red really easily.”
“Okay. I thought you might be uncomfortable around me, and you’re the last person I would ever want to make uncomfortable,” I said, hoping to soothe him.
He rubbed his chest. “I’m not uncomfortable. Not really. It’s just… you’re the coolest person I know. Meanwhile, I can’t even get my mom to like me.”
I frowned. “Thing is, you’re pretty cool, too.”
He snorted. “Whatever.”
“I’m telling the truth.” I reached for his shoulder. “Nothing would make your parents happier than you spending the rest of your life in one of their tire shops. Which would be great if it was what you wanted. But it wasn’t, so you did the hard work of going to school while working full time, even though you weren’t getting the support you deserved.”
He shook his head. “That’s not entirely true. Mr. Paige had my back. He’s the one who encouraged me to go to school. He said college was an important experience, and even if I ended up at the family business, I’d at least have more context of the world around me.”
I wrinkled my nose, not buying it. “He generally wasn’t sold on college unless a person had a very specific career goal in mind. Whenever a kid was unsure about their future and wondering if college was worth the expense, he always suggested vocational training or certification programs at one of the community colleges nearby. He must’ve seen how much you wanted to be a teacher.”
Walker dipped his chin, humble as ever. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. Everybody acted like it was such a tragedy when I got hurt and couldn’t continue with baseball.”
“No, the tragedy was that you lost your sister,” I said, wondering what the hell was wrong with people.
“Exactly,” he said, gesturing broadly and sending a box of screws flying. I grabbed the broom and helped him gather them up.
“Exactly,” he repeated, this time more quietly. “I liked baseball. It was fun. But it was a game. Now, if that game was going to get me through college, I was going to ride that horse all the way to the finish line. But losing baseball didn’t even crack the top five worst things that could happen. First was my sister, second was the loss of my scholarship, and third was realizing that my family was never gonna forgive me for surviving. That took me down way worse than a busted knee. And Annalee was the one person who would’ve comforted me and given me perspective. So, you know. It all circled in on itself.”
I couldn’t help myself. I pulled him back into another hug.
“Then one day,” he said to my shoulder, “Mr. Paige came by the shop, and business was slow and my mom was out, so we sat in the office and talked. He was so kind. I got the feeling that if I’d wanted to keep on with the tire shop, he would’ve been supportive. But he could tell it wasn’t my passion, so he started asking questions. I loved being in his class, but I’d never been anywhere near as close to him as you guys had been. He seemed to know I needed his help, though.”
“That was Mr. Paige.”
“I told him everything I was worried about: the money, the time, the going back and forth between here and San Marcos.”
“Let me guess—he was the one who suggested online classes.”
“Yep. He helped me get grants to cover the first sixty credit hours, and then he helped me figure out how to keep going. Every time I thought I’d have to give up, he helped me find a way to make it work.”
Walker’s eyes remained downcast, so I gave his hands a quick squeeze. “And you saw it through. You have to know he was so proud of you.”
“Everybody always talks about how proud he was of me.” Walker looked as though he didn’t buy it. “But I didn’t—couldn’t—do any of it on my own.” He finally met my gaze, his eyes rimmed red.
“None of us got where we are on our own. The amazing thing about you, Walk, is that you took a tiny amount of help and used it to create a whole new life for yourself. He gave you maybe one percent. You’re the one who brought the ninety-nine percent.”
