Me:This is my shocked face.
Walker:Shut up.
Me:Seriously, though, I’m glad the district was able to resolve it quickly.
Walker:They still have to interview some teachers, so I’m not quite out of the woods yet.
Me:Think of it this way: you have some unexpected paid time off.
Walker:And I won’t in any way be silently losing my shit while pacing your house.
Me:You could volunteer at Lupe for a few days.
Walker:My union rep recommended that I not do anything around minors until my name is fully cleared.
Me:I have a honey do list if you’re interested.
Walker:I may have already tightened the hinges and knobs on all of the cabinets in your kitchen and started in on your bathrooms.
Me:Are you sure you don’t want to just watch Heartstopper?
Walker:What’s Heartstopper?
Joel looked over my shoulder. “What’s Heartstopper? Who the fuck doesn’t know whatHeartstopperis?”
I pulled my phone away. “Walker. And stop snooping.”
Joel’s eyes lit up. “Dude. Did you seal the deal?” he scream-whispered.
The excitement in his voice made me grin so hard my cheeks hurt.
“Oh, fuck, man. Look at thatsmile,” he said, grabbing and shaking my shoulders.
Chuckling, I said, “Yeah. We, uh,sealed the dealmultiple times this weekend.”
Whooping, Joel dragged me into a huge hug. As happy as I was, I felt myself deflate as he pulled away, and of course he noticed. “Wait, is this not a good thing?”
“It’s anamazingthing,” I said on a sigh. “But his mom walked in on us yesterday morning.”
Joel’s grimace was on point as we walked to the supply closet. “Oh, shit. That’s one way to get meeting the parents out of the way.”
“She was awful,” I said, selecting a few bottles of liquor to replace ones that were running low. “If that’s how she’s always been, I don’t know how she managed to raise such a sweet son.”
“Goodness just sort of shines out of him, doesn’t it?” he asked, grabbing the other supplies.
I nodded. “After that, he needed a bit of a pick-me-up, so I took him to my parents’ for brunch.”
“Already?”
“Yeah, he was in such bad shape after his mom had raked him over the coals, I figured he could use a good dose of Preston and Kiyana.”
“Good call,” Joel said, restocking the napkins on the bar while I arranged the bottles. “That sounds like you helped turn around a bad day for him.”
I raised one shoulder. “Sure.”
“So why do you look like your dog died?”
“Somebody—almost certainly his parents—filed a complaint with the school district and said that he was grooming his students.”
