“You didn't tell me you knew each other,” Finn said, and there was an edge of accusation in his voice that suggested he felt personally betrayed by this information gap.
“It didn't come up,” I said, aiming for casual and probably landing somewhere closer to strained. “We lost touch after graduation. Ran into each other recently.”
“Recently,” Finn echoed, and the look he gave me said he knew there was a lot more to that story but was choosing not to dig into it right now. “Huh.”
Rook set Jamie down gently and ruffled his hair before straightening up to his full height. He looked good. Too good. The kind of good that made me acutely aware of the fact that I was sweaty from the lesson and probably looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backward.
“I didn't mean to interrupt,” Rook said, and he was talking to me now, his voice doing that thing where it went a little softer atthe edges. “I just stopped by to check on Finn and didn't realize you'd be here.”
“We're almost done,” I said, because I needed to finish this lesson before I said or did anything stupid. “Just working through some basic patterns.”
“Can I watch?”
The question caught me off guard. “You want to watch a drum lesson?”
“Yeah.” He said it simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If that's okay.”
It absolutely was not okay because having Rook watch me teach was going to make me hyperaware of every movement and every word and every single thing I did wrong. But Jamie was already pulling on my hand and dragging me back toward the kit, and I didn't have the heart to tell him no.
“Sure,” I said, trying to sound normal. “Pull up a chair.”
The rest of the lesson passed in a blur of showing Jamie the snare, adjusting his grip, and trying very hard not to notice the way Rook was watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Jamie picked up the new pattern faster than I'd expected, and by the time we wrapped up he was grinning like I'd just handed him the secrets to the universe.
“You did great today,”I signed to him.“Practice what we worked on, and next week we'll add in the hi-hat.”
He nodded enthusiastically and ran off to find his grandpa, leaving me alone with Rook and Finn in a room that suddenly felt too small.
Finn excused himself after a few minutes of painfully obvious small talk, claiming he needed to help his grandpa with the garden but really just giving us space. Which left me standing in the middle of the living room with Rook, both of us trying to figure out what to say next.
“You're really good with him,” Rook said finally, breaking the silence. “Jamie, I mean. The way you teach—it's patient. Creative.”
“He makes it easy,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets because I didn't know what else to do with them. “Kid's got more natural rhythm than half the drummers I've played with.”
“Still. It's impressive.” He paused, and I could see him weighing whether to say the next thing. “You ever think about teaching full-time?”
“Can't afford to,” I said honestly. “Lessons don't pay enough to cover rent and bills. This is just a side thing I do because I like it.”
He nodded, and I could see the wheels turning in his head, probably doing math on what my life actually looked like financially. I didn't want to think about that right now, so I grabbed my jacket from where I'd left it on the couch and started heading toward the door.
“Wait,” Rook said, following me out onto the porch. “You got plans right now?”
“Just errands. Why?”
“Want to walk with me? There's a park nearby, and I could use the company.”
It was a terrible idea. I knew it was a terrible idea even as I heard myself saying yes. But Rook was looking at me with those steady eyes and that quiet hope, and apparently I had zero self-preservation when it came to him.
“Yeah,” I said. “Sure. Let's walk.”
The park wasone of those sprawling neighborhood deals with winding paths, open fields, and enough trees to make it feellike you'd stepped out of the city even though you were still surrounded by houses. The air was cold enough that I could see my breath, and the sky was that particular shade of gray that promised snow later but hadn't committed to it yet.
We walked in silence for the first few minutes, just existing next to each other, and I tried not to think about how this felt dangerously close to a date. Because it wasn't a date and I needed to get my head out of my ass before I ruined this by wanting more than he could give.
“How are your siblings doing?” Rook asked.
“They're good. Talia is killing herself with overtime but refusing to admit she's tired. Micah and Poppy are doing better in school than I did.”
“That's incredible.”
