Strangely, I did want to meet him face-to-face. I wanted to get it over with. Maybe even prove to myself I could—that I was brave enough to handle it.
Me:I’ll meet you on Sunday, 6pm, at the Timberbeast.
Sean:Why don’t you just come here? You can pick up your stuff.
Me:I need to arrange movers for my stuff. If you need me to sign paperwork, we can do it at the Timberbeast on Sunday.
Sean:Fine.
With a smile, I dropped my phone in my purse, feeling a little bit proud of myself. We were doing things on my terms.
Theo came in, taking the seat next to me, and I slid his lunch to him—the last of our Polish sausage and veggie bowls.
“Thanks, Pentangle.” He snapped off the lid and dug in. “Man, this is good.”
“I’m glad you like it. It was super easy.”
He shoved another bite in his mouth and his gaze flicked to Ashley and Jeremy. Meeting my eyes, he lifted his eyebrows. I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what was going on between them.
“Did I tell you about Lindsay Mallahan?” Theo asked. “I have her for Algebra One.”
“No, what about her?”
“She got an A on her test yesterday.” He smiled, showcasing his dimples. “It’s her first A of the year. She’s one of those kids who thinks she can’t do math. Which isn’t true at all. She can, she just needed to get her basics down.”
“That’s great. Good for her.”
“Yeah, I’m proud of her.” He took another big bite and kept talking around his food. “She’s a good kid. Needed the win.”
We kept chatting about the goings-on at school while we finished our lunch, all the while keeping an eye on Ashley and Jeremy to see if they’d do anything interesting. Like try to whisper without anyone noticing or get up and leave together.
They didn’t.
Just as we were finishing up, Derek pulled a chair over to our table and straddled it backward. “Dude, Theo. Did you see the game?”
“Which game?”
“Buffalo. Man, they got killed. It was hard to watch.”
“Nah, I missed it.”
“You should have watched; it was a total train wreck. Their O-line was asleep or something. It was ridiculous. They couldn’t get a first down to save their lives.”
Theo shook his head. “That sucks.”
“Yeah.” Derek smacked Theo’s shoulder. “Too bad you don’t play for them anymore. You might have been able to get something done.”
Theo looked down at the table. “That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but you could have still been playing. You’re not that old.”
I watched the conversation in front of me with growing horror. Was Derek actually that clueless? Couldn’t he see this was an uncomfortable topic for Theo?
I stood abruptly. “So, Theo, if you could help me with, you know, that thing in my classroom, that would be great. Sorry, Derek, I just need to borrow Theo for a minute. He’s…taller than me.”
“Right.” Theo got up. “Yeah, let’s go take care of that now.”
“You guys need another set of hands?” Derek asked.
