math courses.
Baby was smart. Well-spoken. She’d known he dropped out of high school, but there had never been anything about him that suggested he was ignorant or lacked critical thinking skills. Actually, learning this now, realizing how much he’d adapted to be able to keep this secret from everyone—and she had no doubt he had kept this from everyone—she was even more convinced of his intelligence.
He’d developed coping mechanisms just like...
“You’re dyslexic. Like Ethan.” She shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to take it all in. “That makes sense. I don’t know if research supports that dyslexia is hereditary, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it’s true.”
The waitress came over. “Did you guys decide on a desert?”
Baby looked over at Quinn, his face still guarded and harder than she’d ever seen it. She couldn’t figure out what to say. What was she going to do, read the menu to him like he was a child?
“I—” She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, just knew she had to say something.
But in the end, Baby picked up the dessert menus and handed them back to the waitress, unopened. “No, nothing else. We’re done.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
They drove back to the TSC campus so Baby could get his truck in relative silence. Quinn wrestled with all the ramifications of his admission. She had a million questions but wasn’t sure if they were really any of her business. After all, what were they to each other? She wasn’t his girlfriend. She didn’t have any hold on his life at all.
He’d spent most of his life not telling the people closest to him about this issue. What right did she have to expect him to open up to her?
“Baby.” They were way too close to campus by the time she formulated the words she wanted to say. “Think about how Ethan has conquered his dyslexia. I’m not sure how severe yours is, but you’re so smart and...”
“Believe me, I’ve looked into it. It’s different for kids than it is for adults. What Charlie has done with Ethan has been nothing short of amazing, but there’s no guarantee it would be that way for me.”
“But you could try. Charlie might already have an advantage, having worked with Ethan.”
“Look. I don’t need people to pity me, okay? Nobody even knows I was working toward my college degree.”
“Why? Statistically speaking, people who have a support network are more likely to be successful in completing a degree. Especially someone like you, who is a first-generation college degree seeker.”
“Thanks, professor.”
Quinn grimaced and tightened her hands on the steering wheel. God, she was terrible at this. So unlike Baby himself, who always seemed to know what to say to make people feel better. “I’m sorry.”
He reached up to rub his forehead then turned to look out the window. “I barely made it through my junior year of high school. I only did because I was popular and could always find someone to help me with whatever I needed school-wise. So close to cheating, but not exactly. I honestly always wanted to understand and could understand when people explained it to me vocally. I just couldn’t force the words to make sense. Math was no problem. But reading and writing sucked. I swear, Quinn, I can barely read the Dick and Jane books. Believe me, I’ve tried. Over and over.”
“Repetition might work for some, but not for others.”
He shrugged. “Nobody was surprised when I dropped out the spring of my junior year. They all thought I wanted to be a mechanic. Why bother finishing school if that was the case?”
She sighed. “Schooling isn’t for everyone. I’ve made a career of it and would still be the first person to say that higher learning isn’t necessary to be successful. You’re a prime example of that.”
She didn’t understand why he’d gone on to college to begin with.
“I did well in classes related directly to my major—my math and science courses. There was some reading, but mostly the instructors were concerned about the math and physics. I can do that, no problem. I was way ahead of the curve, so they cut me slack when it came to the stuff that involved reading.”
She could see that he would have aced anything involving numbers and equations.
“If you don’t care about the degree, and you don’t want to change your career, why not just take the classes you want?”
They pulled up into the parking lot.
“There are... circumstances. Unusual parameters,” he finally muttered.
She wasn’t