Page 38 of Here in My Heart (Here Together #2)
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Ade bounced into campus. With a newfound confidence, she no longer shrank into her jacket and retreated to her comfort zone at the marine center.
In fact, she’d accepted a whole slew of back-to-back appointments with her students, all of whom seemed to have entered the Spring semester with a bag of worries and a list of ailments.
Scott hovered at her classroom door. “Good morning. I brought you a coffee.”
“Really?” Ade eyed him suspiciously. The gesture was uncharacteristic. “How come?”
“I went by the coffee shop and figured you might be in need of a caffeine fix too.”
She took the cup. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” She sat in her usual spot and gestured to the seat opposite. “How’re things with you?”
“It’s not me I’m here for actually. I know Madison’s in hot water because she faked some reports. I’m low-key worried about her.”
Scott’s concern about the well-being of another student demonstrated some real growth.
Maybe Ade had underestimated the jock. He sat with his arms folded.
She’d come to learn this signaled his discomfort with the subject.
But he’d had the balls to come and see her about it.
“If you’re worried, I’m worried.” Ade chewed the inside of her cheek. “Tell me more.”
“She skipped a bunch of classes last week. We had a joint assignment, so I messaged her but got the brush off.”
“Has anyone else heard from her?”
“Not that I know of.” Scott shrugged, his familiar nonchalance poking through. “I could ask, I guess. But she’s been acting really weird. When she does show up for class, sometimes she’s been drinking or something.”
That was news. Madison was fast becoming Ade’s number one priority. “Thank you for telling me all that. I’ll check in with her today.” She made a note on her laptop. “Will you let me know if you hear anything else?”
“I guess.”
That would have to do. “How about you? How’re things going?”
Scott wrinkled his nose. “Classes are tough, man. The language barrier is like doing the pole vault sometimes.”
“Yeah, I know.” Ade sympathized, but her sticky brain was better with languages than all of her students put together. “Just focus on the practical classes. Spend more time at the lab.”
“And less time in the Latin class. It’s crazy that anyone’s learning that shit these days.” He ran his hand through his hair, which had dulled with the lack of winter sun these past few weeks. “Anyway, I’ll let you get on with it. Later, Ade.” He laughed. “Sounds like Gatorade.”
“Thank you for coming by, Scott.” Ade blinked away her confusion as he left. “How’re you doing?” she asked as Greg strode through the open door.
“All good. I recalibrated some of the instruments back at the lab. Everything should be in order.” He grinned and sat down.
“Sounds great. Thank you for your work on that.” She loved his enthusiasm for lab time. His passion almost rivaled her own. “Tell me how your other studies are going.”
“Fine. I’m on top of the assignments and ahead in marine biology. I’ve asked the professor for some extra credits to do during this semester’s reading week.”
Ade nodded. “You can pick up some extra maintenance shifts too, if you’d like.”
“Absolutely. I’d love to. Just say the word.”
Ade frowned; she’d just done that, hadn’t she? But she let it pass because she liked Greg, and she didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.
Their conversation wound up, and she handled two more appointments: one of the students had damp in her room that she needed help with, and the other couldn’t work out how to pay their phone bill.
Ade scanned her task list: she’d called a housing company and made an online payment but still had to make a call to Madison.
She stalled, her cell in her hand, staring at Madison’s name.
Maybe she should write up her supervision notes while they were fresh in her mind.
She didn’t want to blow all that progress with shoddy record-keeping.
She typed her notes into the university’s student system, diligently logging her students’ concerns and resolutions.
She was pretty proud of her progress today.
There’d been no meltdowns, and she hadn’t had to put herself into Steph’s or Sylvie’s shoes to fix anyone’s problems. Without thinking, she picked up her cell and scrolled to messages she’d shared with Sylvie.
Hey. Missing you. How’s it going?
Having fun, but wish you were here. The bed is far too big for one person.
I bet. I could really help with that.
She was putting off the call to Madison. And she wasn’t so proud of that. She was really trying to be the person who got things done, and did them well, rather than relying on anyone else to take care of matters. She sighed, and her finger hovered over the call button.
Convincing herself that it’d be so much worse if she didn’t make contact, she pressed the button. It rang a few times, and she almost hung up until the connection clicked into place. “Madison? Is that you?”
“Hi, Ade,” she almost whispered.
Now what? “I wanted to check in and see how you’re doing. You know, after the last few weeks and all.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m okay.” Madison sniffed. “Are personal check-ins part of the service now?”
So, she’d figured out that Ade’s call was unusual. “They are for people I’m beginning to worry about. It’s my job to be here for you when you need extra support.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. Everything is great. I’ve sorted out my report cards, and my schedule is so much lighter since you fixed it for me.”
They were the right words in the right order, but they rang hollow. Ade drummed her fingers. “Are you sure? I heard you’ve missed a few classes?”
“Yeah, but only the ones we talked about me dropping, right?”
That threw Ade off. Had she given Madison permission to skip class?
She’d arranged for her schedule to be modified, but that wasn’t a carte blanche for her absence.
“Right. So you’re attending the classes you’re supposed to be going to?
Just reassure me of that. We don’t want to be getting in any more trouble with the faculty this semester. ”
“No, we wouldn’t want that.” Madison sounded detached, like she was staring into space, speaking words that Ade might want to hear. “I gotta go; someone’s at my door.”
She hung up before Ade could wish her well. At least she had company, but Madison’s dead tone played in her mind all the way home.
Back at her apartment, she had no time to dwell on the interaction. Steph was home and itching to hit the bars.
“Come on, you know you want to.” Steph threw a towel in Ade’s lap. “Get yourself ready. It’ll take your mind off missing Sylvie and whatever the hell happened in class today.”
Ade had downloaded a summary of what happened with Madison, but as usual, her sister had brushed off her worries with a flick of her hand and the offer of a quick drink to soak up the misery.
“I don’t feel like it tonight.” She almost never wanted to go out with Steph.
Most times, she tagged along with the hope that this one time would be the night of her dreams. She would morph into the social being she fantasized about, easily moving through a crowded room, unconcerned by the lights and the noise piercing her eyes and ears.
“I don’t want to go out alone, Ade.” Steph stuck out her bottom lip.
“I need a quiet night.” She missed Sylvie terribly. The day’s work had been a good distraction, but they were about to spend more time apart than they had in a long while, and it hurt.
“But we have birthday plans to polish. How am I going to plan dinner and dancing if you’re not around to sign off on the plans?”
Ade rolled her eyes. “We both know that I have no real power in that decision-making process.” She hadn’t spent a birthday on this earth without her twin on center stage.
Steph tilted her head, throwing Ade a pity look. “You sure Sylvie can’t come? It’s a shame you won’t be together on our birthday.”
That fact sat heavy in Ade’s heart. But plans to meet her parents had been made months ago.
They were enjoying the finale to their European tour by adding a trip to Morocco, where she and Steph were going to meet them for a few days.
“She can’t take any more personal time off.
” What Ade really wanted was to stay in the city and celebrate with Sylvie.
But breaking her promise to her family was unimaginable.
“Bummer.” Steph adjusted the waistband of her miniskirt. “Do you think this is too long?”
“I have absolutely no opinion on the length of your hem,” Ade said without looking up.
“You could pretend. Just this once.”
“That would be dishonest of me.” Ade sat taller. “You don’t really care about what I think, you’re going to wear it anyway.”
Steph chuckled. “So true, sister. So very perceptive.”
Ade blocked out the remainder of Steph’s getting ready routine with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and her go-to playlist. She stretched on the sofa and drifted into a fantasy where Sylvie came along to Morocco for their birthday trip.
Her absence gnawed a hole in her heart like nothing else.
When they were back together, she’d make up for it.