THE NEWS WAS ALWAYS A BUMMER THESE DAYS, BUT TODAY WAS PARTICULARLY HEART WRENCHING AS I HALF-LISTENED OVER THE STOVE MAKING BREAKFAST THE NEXT MORNING.
The news cast told of a teenager not much older than Pete, taken from a hiking trail a town or two over. I frowned as I separated Pete’s eggs onto a plate, trying to not let parental nervousness take over. I had work in 40 minutes, so I didn’t have time to get lost in thought right now.
“Peter!” I called. “Breakfast!”
I waited for the resulting groan from his bedroom, and huffed in amusement. We had a little system going, his noises of complaint always meant he was unfortunately awake and would be there soon.
Sure enough, Pete appeared, looking appropriately groggy for having just woken up.
“Honey, your hair is a mess.” I informed him as I went around the counter to put the plates down on the table, setting a container of orange juice down for him as well.
“Ngh.” He sighed, patting down his hair until it was presentable enough. “Orange juice is for babies.”
I caught him reaching for the container from the corner of my eye anyways, as I quickly ate my share.
“Well, I’ll stop buying it when you stop drinking it.”
“Fair.” He sighed again, resisting the urge to yawn for the tenth time.
“Goofball.” I shook my head as I set my plate aside. I’ll do dishes later, I needed to head out the door soon.
“Are you already leaving?” He sounded unusually concerned, so I gave pause.
“I’m a little late for work today. You still have time though. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to talk.” He confessed, picking at his eggs.
“What about?” I risked running late for my boy, and always would.
“College. I wanted to know where you thought… I dunno, it’s a little stupid to be thinking about it this early, isn’t it?”
I softened. He was so excited about growing up, I understood that. I approached him at the table.
“It’s not silly at all,” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you and I spend some time this afternoon looking at colleges together? We can get a head start.”
“You’re sure? It’s not too much of a hassle?”
“Of course not, Peter! It could be fun, researching together. We’d have to share the laptop for it, but that’s about it.” I rubbed his shoulder while I talked, absently. He didn’t seem to mind it. I recalled the sticky note I had on my fridge. “I could even ask your Mr. Galloway for advice, I’d bet he’d be happy to help.”
“I was thinking that, too!” He smiled up at me, I returned it. My watch started beeping, suddenly, and I blanched.
“Hahaha. Just go, Liam. Have a good day at work!”
“Thank you, Pete! I’ll see you after school!” I called, running out the door while nearly hopping on one foot to get my other shoe on.
Work was painfully boring. At least I had a pretty boy to think about to pass the time. Between writing reports and sending emails, I thought about the phone number I’d saved to my phone the night before but hadn’t the courage to send a message.
What the hell, I thought.
‘Hey!’
The lack of quick response didn’t surprise me but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed anyways. It was halfway through my eventual lunch break when I finally got a text back.
‘Hello there!’
I beamed to myself, typing out another message.
‘Has Pete said anything about college to you today?’
“What has you smiling like that?” Someone asked me, startling me away from the screen.
“Uh, no one.” I was embarrassed, I hadn’t realized I’d been smiling.
That someone was my work friend, Leah. She was a tall girl for a beta, beautiful, with thick curly hair and this deep voice that I was sure could attract men and women like flies. She gave me an unimpressed look with her eyebrow hidden behind her hair.
“Uh, huh. Sure. Does this ‘no one’ have a name?”
I sighed
“Briar. He’s Peter’s teacher.”
“Oof. The teacher?” She laughed. “Alright, boy. Tell me about him, he must be pretty.”
“Oh god, so Pretty.” He laughed along with her. “He’s tall, too. Built. He must go to the gym when he’s not teaching, because he’s so fit it's unreal.”
“Not in the gross way, right?”
“No. Like a natural muscular god build.”
She laughed again. I did too.
“You make him sound like a dream.” She leaned against the counter. “You get along?”
“So far… We haven’t really talked outside of Pete’s education.”
“Oh my gosh, Change that! What did you say to him?” She scoffed.
“I just asked about Pete…”
“Of course.” She would have facepalmed, I’m sure. She shook her head, her watch beeped and she sighed. “Look. You can’t make Peter your whole life, Amanda would have wanted you to have fun, too.”
“I know…”
“If you knew, you’d have set up a date already.” She dumped the last bit of her coffee in the sink, it was mostly grounds at that point.
“I barely know him!” I protested.
“I mean in general.” She gave him a pointed look. “Ask him out this weekend, find something fun to do, and good god, get l-” her watch beeped at her again. She groaned.
“I gotta get back to work. Listen to what I said, though.”
“I know, I know. I’ll be there soon. Davey at 3 o’clock, right?”
“You got it.” She waved as she left the break room.
I sighed to myself and stared at the wall for maybe another 30 seconds, before begrudgingly, refilling my coffee and taking it with me into the office.
I had nearly forgotten to respond to Briar as I sat back in my seat. I checked outside my cubicle quickly before setting my phone on my lap for me to text.
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‘I don’t have him until later in the day’ he had said. ‘Is there something I should know about?’
‘just that he has been wanting to look into colleges’
‘already?’ His surprise made me feel a little better. He thought to ask me before Galloway.
‘I thought you might be willing to help us search, he thinks very highly of you so it would mean a lot to him to show your support.’
‘of course I’ll support him! I’m just shocked he’s planning that far ahead is all. Why don’t we three call when you decide to start looking?’
"We were thinking of looking after school today," I said after some deliberation about whether I should invite him or not.
‘That works for me!’
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to make you feel obligated.’ I felt bad enough as it is.
‘Liam, don’t worry about it. I’d love to help you two :)’
I smiled. He was so willing to help Peter through this, I wondered if he was like this for all of his students, or if he just liked Peter. I couldn’t decide which I liked better.
‘My lunch break ends soon, but I’ll be home around 5:30 to 6, why don’t you give me a call around then and we can talk about college with Petey’
I stifled a snort, Petey, I never considered calling him that. I could tell they were close even without having all the context from before.
‘Perfect. see you then :)’
I closed my phone, and finally started getting back into the swing of work.
Finally free from the corporate grind, I kicked my shoes off after closing the front door. Pete should already be home. I sighed, feeling better now that I wasn’t in those damn heels. They weren’t tall, but they certainly weren’t comfortable.
Sure enough, upon entering the living room area I found Pete lying belly down on the couch, playing his handheld console.
“Hey Petey. How was school?”
His head snapped up, looking at me with this indecipherable expression, before he quirked his lip upward in a semi-smile.
“It was good. Did you talk to Mr. Galloway?”
“Oh, yeah, I did. Why?” I was confused about why he was suddenly bringing this up.
“He knew about the college stuff. Also, you called me Petey.”
I straightened as I dropped my briefcase against the wall. Embarrassed, I couldn’t help but apologize.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine Liam, Chill. It was just funny.” Pete laughed at my expense.
I pouted as I flopped on the couch, sore from a long day.
“You’re okay with Mr. Galloway joining us this afternoon, then?” I asked him, of course it would be over the phone, but I wanted to make sure Pete was comfortable.
“Course, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just checking on you, is all. He said he’d be ready to call us around 6, you gonna be ready by then?”
“Already am. Got the laptop and everything.”
“Look at you, eager beaver.”
“I’m just excited. In a year or two, I’m gonna be ready to go off on my own.”
I gave him a sad look, hoping he couldn’t tell. “Just don’t forget about us little people when you go do great things.”
“What?” Pete did a double take, “Oh, Liam, no. I’m not going far.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m still gonna be in your life, I mean, the colleges I was looking at aren’t even that far.”
“I thought you were excited to leave?” I frowned a little in confusion.
“I am. I never said I was excited to leave you, though… I… Galloway says—I mean… I need you, Liam.” He was looking pointedly away from me. He didn’t want to be seen as emotional, even when his mother died, he tried hard to hide how he felt.
“What did Galloway say, Peter..?” My frown deepened, I didn’t want him saying things that weren’t his own words. I didn’t want him lying to make me feel better.
“Just that… I dunno. He made me realize… You’re not some replacement mom. You’re… you’re a good parent. I didn’t realize that before, but I know it now…”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say, I was still frowning, but now it was because of the emotions stuck in my throat. I said nothing, instead coming to sit beside him so I could pull him into a hug, pressing him tightly to my chest. We never talked about Amanda. This was one of the few moments where he got close to it, though.
Peter stiffened as I hugged him for a few moments, before slowly, almost hesitantly, he brought his hands around my midsection to hug me back. His hold was loose, but he lowered his face to rest on my shoulder. I felt him breathe in my arms for a moment, before all at once he pulled away, clearing his throat.
“Let’s, ah… let’s call Galloway now.”
“Yeah, just gimme a minute.” I sighed, pulling away and heading off to my room to get changed out of my work clothes.
I GOT A CALL AT 6:15 PM, AND I DIDN’T LET IT RING EVEN TWICE BEFORE PICKING IT UP.
“Briar.” I said.
“Hey! This is Liam, Pete is here too.”
“Hey you two!” I smiled though they couldn’t see it. “I’ve opened my computer. Do we have a specific place in mind to start?”
“I wanna stay in-state!” Pete called.
“Gotcha, in-state it is. Let’s see here…”
I did my best throughout the phone call to provide my professional opinion about the colleges we looked into and next steps needed for Petey to get accepted to one. By the end, he’d put together a list of all the places he’d wanted to go. Only one of them was out-of-state.
“I’m tired.” Pete hummed. “I don’t feel super great. I think I’m gonna go rest, give my brain a break.”
“That’s a good idea, kiddo. You did a lot of thinking today, go take your break.” Liam spoke as Pete retreated to his room, shutting the door softly behind him. I could only barely make it out on the other line.
“Well, I guess that’s it for today. Thanks again so much for all your help.”
“Hey, wait.” I called, reluctant to let him go already.
“Yeah? What is it?” I could almost hear Liam’s curiosity.
“I was wondering… and forgive me for being presumptuous… I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to go out with me, maybe this weekend?” I hadn’t planned on asking him this already, but I could hardly resist as the opportunity presented itself.
The line went quiet for a little longer than expected. I would have asked if he was still there if I couldn’t hear the soft sounds of white noise from the other line.
“Yeah, sure!” He finally said. “Sorry I just… it surprised me, is all. I’d be happy to, though.”
“Great!” I released a breath that I didn’t realize I’d been holding. Relief. “I know a nice restaurant, down by Lexington. Would you be open to meeting there? Maybe Saturday?”
“Yeah, yeah that sounds great!” I could imagine his smile as he spoke, I hoped it was real.
“Perfect. I’ll text you the address tomorrow. You have a nice night, Liam.”
“Yeah… Yes. I mean. You too…”
“Goodbye.”
“Bye…”
I hung up, still smiling. I had to remind myself that it was just a date, nothing more. Yet.
I FELT LIKE A TEENAGER, GIDDY WITH EXCITEMENT. WHO KNEW YOU COULD STILL FEEL THIS WAY AT MY AGE.
I hugged my phone to my chest, wondering about how ridiculously easy that was. I mean, we’d only just met, and yet…
I stopped that line of thought. I wasn’t going to let myself talk myself out of this. Like Leah said, I really needed a social life.
That said, Nothing was more important than Pete, so I’ll have to ask what he thinks before I actually go.
I put my phone away with a pleasant sigh as I got to work on making dinner. I enjoyed cooking, I let myself get lost in thought as I combined all the ingredients and waited for it to come together in a pan. This evening I was thinking something spicy. I hummed to myself as I went about the work, taken by surprise when Pete appeared behind me.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“Oh, hi Pete. I thought you weren’t feeling well?”
“I was wondering what’s for dinner.”
“You want spicy ramen?”
“Sounds great.”
“Good,” I smiled, going back to humming while he went to the counter and sat. I turned around after I put the pork broth to boil. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. I think I just needed to get away from the screen for a little bit.”
I nodded understandably.
“Any plans for the weekend?” I asked him, after a brief silence passed between us.
“I was thinking of hanging out with Jonah.” He answered back. This surprised me, he normally preferred to stay in. Though, lately he’s been going on walks, so perhaps it was related to that.
“Good for you, I think that sounds like a great idea.”
“What about you?” he asked, like he knew something.
“… I was thinking of going on a date.” If he knew, I should just get it out of the way. He answered with a grin.
“Is it with Mr. Galloway?” he asked so quickly, almost breathlessly.
“… yes?”
“Oh man I knew it. You guys were giving each other goo-goo eyes when you met—it was so weird.”
“Well, sorry.” I pouted, I didn’t like being told it was weird. “Is that bad?”
“Nah, you go out, you deserve it.”
“You don’t think it’ll be weird going to school later?”
“Nope, Galloway and I are tight. I don’t see it being a problem.” He was kicking his legs, for all the world looking relaxed and even amused.
“Okay, okay. Let me know if that changes.” I huffed, turning back around to check on the broth.
“I will.” He agreed. “So, I take it I have your permission to hang out with Jonah then?”
“Go for it, kiddo. Take pictures if you go anywhere fun.”
“Okay, sure.” he laughed. I smiled to myself in response. It was so nice to see him in such a good mood.