Page 10 of Room to Breathe

“What movie are we seeing, again?” I asked.

“That horror one,” Caroline said.

“The horror!” I screamed in a fake scared voice.

“Don’t scream while I’m driving. Seriously, Indy. What’s wrong with you?”

“So much,” I said.

She laughed.

On the way over, Ava really did bet twenty bucks that Beau would cancel last minute. I took her up on that bet, so when I saw him as we crossed the street, I let out a loud “Yes!” and ran the rest of the way. “You’re here!” First I hugged him and then Harper.

“You haven’t been this happy to see me since…ever?” he said.

That wasn’t true and he knew it, but I said, “You just earned me twenty bucks.”

“I don’t want to know,” he said.

I put my hand over my heart. “I bet on you, Beau, and you came through. That’s all you need to know.”

“That’s because he’s a come-through kind of guy,” Harper said.

He really was.

Caroline and Ava caught up with us and we walked towardthe theater together. Beau looked at my feet as we walked. I was wearing flip-flops.

“Your toes are going to be cold,” he said.

“They aren’t.”

“Your toes are always cold.”

This was true. “I should’ve brought a blanket.”

“I have socks in the car,” Ava said. “Want them?”

“No, I’ll be fine,” I said.

“Guess who you get to tutor tomorrow?” Beau said to me. He worked at the center too.

I hadn’t looked at my schedule beyond my hours. I usually had the same kids every week. “Who?” I asked.

“Brady.”

“Your brother needs tutoring?”

“Not really,” he said. “But you know my mom.”

“I do.” She was a perfectionist and she expected her kids to be too. Perfect in every way. Her dad was a politician and she’d grown up with her whole city looking at her. She still felt like everyone was looking, even though they’d moved away from her hometown.

“He’s struggling in math, though. He will not let me explain anything to him. My mom offered him you and he reluctantly agreed. Which is the only kind of agreeing he does these days.”

“She offered him Indy?” Harper asked. “You make it sound like she’ll be served hot.”

“I think I’d be a cold dish,” I said. “If I were to be served on a silver platter.”

“I agree,” Beau said. “Cold as ice.”