"We'll make it work." I repeat the words, this time with a smile. I can see the relief on her face. "As for your grade, I can't change anything for that. You'll need to get at least an eighty-five on this paper and a low A on the Final, so make sure you study. I have my office hours as well if you need some extra time. If you can show up for at least one office hour session this week or next, I can give you partial credit for your attendance."
"I'll do my best," Yvonne says. "Thank you so much, Bennett."
I nod and let her walk out of the classroom first. I pack up my things and pull my phone out of my pocket to see a textfrom Nelson. As expected, he's waiting in his truck for me. The parking lot is empty except for our cars. I drop my things off in my car and lock it before walking the few spaces to Nelson's truck. My phone starts ringing in my hand before I can get in his truck. It's my brother.
"Hello?"
We haven't spoken since the night he called me. I got a text that everyone was home safe that night, but that was it. No other texts from him or my sister in the week since.
"Hey, Bennett." He sounds a lot more oriented this time, at least. Which is good because it's even earlier in the morning in Chicago. "We're coming to see you."
"What?" I glance to Nelson and back. "Like, now?"
"This weekend," he says. "Mom booked the suite in your city. We'll fly in Friday morning."
"Mom is coming too?"
"Mom, Dad, Veronica, myself, and Charlotte." Wow, the whole family. "I'm planning on proposing while I'm there with all of us around."
"Where?" I climb into the truck and buckle up while balancing the phone to my ear. Nelson raises an eyebrow, but I shake my head and motion for him to go ahead and drive. "As I said, there's not much here."
"I don't know, just at dinner or something."
I'm not about to have this argument again with him. He dropped that bomb on me last time while he was drunk and I don't want to bring that back up now that he's sober. I sigh and rub a hand over my forehead. "Just send me flight details and I'll make sure to pick you up."
"Will do," he says. He ends the call before I can say anything else. I hear someone start talking right before he hangs up.
"Everything okay?" Nelson glances over at me. We're heading to the same restaurant Vishal and I met Nelson and his friendsat. He was originally meeting Paul there for lunch, but the guy was all too happy for me to tag along, according to Nelson. They're supposed to be doing some onboarding paperwork or something today. I know that changing jobs while also trying to buy a house isn't the smartest move, but he has deadlines looming that don't give him much of a choice.
"Apparently my entire family is coming to town this weekend."
"Really?" Nelson seems more surprised about this than I expected. Then he starts laughing as he turns into the parking lot of the restaurant. "Because my Mom just called and said they're coming down too. Apparently Charlie hasn't broken the news to them yet but asked if they wanted to do a summer cookout. My guess is he's going to talk to them about the farm."
"Looks like we're going to be busy doing our own things this weekend," I say. I'm bummed about that. We made things official two days ago, spent all of Sunday together until he dropped me off at my apartment. I don't want to go days without seeing him. Or touching him.
"Or you could bring your family to the cookout?" Nelson suggests. "I'm sure Charlie will wait until afterward to talk to our parents about the farm."
The idea is intriguing, if only just for the excuse to spend the weekend with Nelson.
"Where are your parents staying while they're in town?" I ask. Nelson holds the restaurant door open for me and I step through.
"I'll give them my place while they're in," he says. "I'll use the guest bedroom in Charlie's house." He doesn't sound excited about that. I know that he's barely spoken to his brother in the last two months. I get that he's upset about loosing the house and his livelihood. Maybe them being forced to stay in the same house for a few days will help them talk things out. Nelson seemsto have a different idea, though. "Unless someone was kind enough to let me crash at their place."
As much as I would love to see Nelson and Charlie make up, I like the idea of us together more. I nod and Nelson laughs quietly behind me. We spot Paul waving us over and head that way. "We'll talk about it more later."
We all order a drink and meal when the waitress comes by the table. Paul doesn't even talk about work, but instead drills us for details on why we're hanging out outside of the classroom. I'm about to question why he's so interested, but he offers that information on his own. "I told my wife about the last time we were here and she's requested updates on you two if there ever were any. It's not weird, I swear. She has become known as the matchmaker in our family. She has an uncanny ability to know when two people will work out. Did it for Miss Jo and Geoff at work. They've been married for a year now, despite hating each other when Geoff started working for me."
They do eventually start talking about the job. Paul gives Nelson a folder of forms and such to fill out. He's set to start his training at the end of August, in time to take over in October when the current manager retires. I can't remember his name from the one time we met. I can see the excitement in Nelson's eyes as they talk about the aspects of the job. I haven't seen this look before, but I'm happy for him. He's spent his entire life working for someone else, first for his dad and then his older brother. I think him having the chance to run his own team will be a great experience for him. He'll thrive, I know that much.
By the time lunch is over, it's nearly one in the afternoon. I'm planning on staying with Nelson tonight at least. We all walk outside together. Paul shakes Nelson's hand and then mine. "We'll have to make this a regular thing," he says.
"We're having a cookout at the farm this weekend," Nelson offers. "Why don't you bring your wife and kid around? I can text you times once we narrow that down."
"Sounds perfect," Paul says. I'm surprised he's inviting him. He's already invited my family. "Put us down for bringing a fruit tray."
"I'll let Joyce know," Nelson says. We say a final goodbye and head to the truck. I wait until we're in the truck to speak.
"Is it normal to just invite a bunch of people to a cookout or are you just overly nice?"
