story when he got to breakfast in the morning. He sank down with a group of his friends and asked, “Is possible to order green eggs and ham?”
Logan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “What are you talking about?”
“Is not real? Green eggs? Ham? I want to try.”
Donovan sputtered out a laugh. “What brought this on, buddy?”
“In book.”
“Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham?” Kane sank down beside him. “I read it to the twins all the time. It’s a classic kids’ book. Did you see it somewhere?”
“I read for English lesson.”
“Oh.” Kane nodded. “Well, while you can use food coloring to make eggs green, and you can certainly find ham at most restaurants, I don’t think green eggs and ham are something you need to actually eat.”
“Oh.” Miikka was a little disappointed and Kane clapped him on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, you’re not missing anything. Promise.”
“Okay.” Miikka dug into the plate of steak and eggs a waitress put in front of him.
“So when are you going to see your English tutor again?” Logan asked him.
Miikka shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“You gonna ask her out?”
“Maybe.” It was so damn hard to articulate his interest in Charli, and his friends already teased him enough. “Have to see her more.”
Logan gave him a funny look. “That’s how you get to know each other.”
“Charli’s nicer than all the other girls I’ve seen you date put together,” Donovan pointed out. “And she has a nice ass, too.”
Miikka froze, his fork midway to his mouth. “What?”
Donovan squinted slightly. “What? She has a nice butt. Those jeans she was wearing the other night after the game… You didn’t notice?”
Miikka was pretty sure his ears turned red, which was what always happened when he was embarrassed, even though he didn’t have any reason to be embarrassed. Why was talking about Charli making him feel uncomfortable? His hands were even a little sweaty, which was stupid. “She is pretty,” was all he could manage to say since he couldn’t explain the confusion he was feeling in English.
“She’s,” Logan interjected, since Miikka had asked him to help him try to use contractions.
“She’s my pretty English teacher. Nothing more.” Well, not yet, but he was working on it. In his head anyway.
Logan rolled his eyes. “Dude, you know she’s into you, right? I mean, the writing’s on the wall.”
“I see nothing.” This conversation was going sideways. He wanted to explain that he liked her but didn’t want to rush into anything and potentially push her away. But since he always messed up complicated conversations in English, he didn’t bother. Instead, he took the easy way out by saying he didn’t think she was interested.
“You will if you give it a chance.” Logan smirked at him.
“Oh, leave him alone.” Kane laughed. “He’ll figure it out in his own time. I don’t see you in a relationship.”
“By choice,” Logan responded. “I’m not ready. Miikka’s so ready it’s practically stamped on his forehead.”
The conversation moved to other things and Miikka eventually gave up trying to follow it. His teammates, especially these guys, were great and they didn’t treat him differently because of the language barrier, but he struggled to fit in because once they started talking amongst themselves, he couldn’t keep up. They spoke fast, which he was sure he did, too, when he spoke Finnish, but it meant he eventually missed so much of the conversation he didn’t know what was going on.
He’d mentioned this to Charli and she’d said it would take time, but he was impatient after so many years of this. He was getting prepared for his day at the children’s hospital with a handful of phrases and topics to start things off, but what would he do once he ran out of canned responses? He’d have to talk to Charli about this immediately. In fact, it was the perfect excuse to call her.
7
Charli was at her desk getting the day’s worksheets ready when Niko arrived with Sara instead of Dani. Sara didn’t usually walk him into the classroom, instead dropping him off out front with the rest of the kids, so Charli glanced up with concern.
“Good morning, Niko. Hey, Sara.”
“Hi, Miss Charli!” Niko bounded over to the row of cubbies to put away his things.
“I need a favor,” Sara said to her.
“Sure.”
“Can you keep Niko here with you for half an hour or so after school today? I have to help Dr. Harjo deliver a foal about a hundred miles outside the city and I might be a