for me. I would have loved to feel what he was like on the inside.
“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that one,” he said before he started hammering again.
“Hey, maybe I meant it like you did. That I like getting to know a person…fully.”
He rolled his eyes as we moved on to the next shingle. “Yes, as in conversation, learning about their interests and life and hobbies…”
“Funny. That’s what we’re doing right now.” Even the way it came out of my mouth was like I was trying to fucking flirt with him. What the hell was I thinking?
“I guess so,” he said, eyeing me strangely.
We continued shingling, eventually splitting up, which wasn’t as much fun, but as he worked on the other side of the roof, helping another volunteer with a section, I caught his gaze again and waved.
His brows pushed closer. “Everything okay over there, Mr. Forsythe?”
“Only nearly bashed my thumb in a few times,” I joked.
I wasn’t okay, though. I was annoyed as fuck. He was hot, and I had only pushed through my shakes on the roof because I wanted to spend time with him.
What little time we’d had to chat felt like…everything, the sort of everything that made my motives all too clear.
I knew damn well why I’d really gone to the café that evening. Why I was spending my weekend working on a roof with my English teacher.
My cheeks warmed as the realization became impossible to deny: I was crushing on my teach.
Fuck me.
10
James
I was surprised Kyle returned to H4H the following week, and nearly as surprised when he showed the week after and the week after that. Unlike in school, where I never saw him with very many friends, at the builds, he naturally gravitated to a few of the other volunteers, chatting with them, eagerly catching up when he arrived. He was a friendly guy, told jokes, smiled easily, and listened intently to the others’ stories.
It assured me I hadn’t been wrong to assume Dr. Henry and Officer Howe were mistaken. They didn’t know Kyle outside the tough exterior and his odd, at times problematic, social skills. I didn’t know him either, but gradually, through what little chats we managed to share, he began opening up more and more, as did I.
We didn’t discuss anything terribly consequential. Mostly it was the sort of mundane details that would have been safe to talk to anyone about—teacher, student, or volunteer. Despite initially pressing for details about my failed marriage, he must’ve sensed it was a touchy topic, and unlike some kids who might have picked and prodded because they knew it wasn’t any of their business, he didn’t persist, which helped lower my guard around him.
“Me and Taryn were gonna watch this new movie on Netflix,” Kyle said as we shared a small spot on the gravel drive during our break.
He took a bite from his burger, some ketchup spilling from his sandwich onto his shirt. “Oh shit,” he said, laughing. “Guess that’s what I get for trying to put the whole thing in my mouth at once.”
I fished some spare napkins I’d grabbed and passed them to him. “You need to soak it?”
“Nah. It’s an old shirt. I’d just rather not be dripping all over the place.” He dealt with the mess before heading to the nearby trash bin to discard the napkins. When he returned, he said, “Crisis averted.”
“So you were talking about your date with Taryn?”
“What?” Given how shocked he looked by what I considered an innocent question, you would’ve thought I’d taken a swing at him. “No, we’re not like that.”
“Really?” I reflected on the conversations we’d had over the past few weeks, realizing that he’d never actually referred to them as dates or her as his girlfriend. I felt a little odd for making the slip. “Whatever you guys want to refer to it as,” I said, recognizing my blunder.
“No, I don’t have a girlfriend or a boyfriend.” He seemed intent on making that clear.
“If you do or don’t, it’s none of my business. You mentioned the movie with Taryn, and I assumed based on some other things you’ve said, but obviously, I wasn’t meaning to imply anything.”
“Shit, I didn’t mean it that way either. I would be fine to be dating Taryn, but we’re not.”
“I’m getting a little lost.”
“I don’t want you to think I was trying to distance myself from her because she’s pregnant. I would be totally fine with you thinking I was the father. Hell, everyone