Happiness in Numbers

by Nicole Field

  "The—what?" Foxglove stared at Lucie.

  She had gone quite red. "Oh. I… mm. Was that what happened? I dissolved it…"

  "You dissolved the royal signet ring? And it's… inside me now?"

  "Yes." Lucie nodded. "As well as Fen and Suri's blood. I don't actually know what that means, magically speaking, but symbolically speaking—that is—I think it's quite nice…? In a morbid sort of way."

  "Anyway, Father, about the ring," Suri said, "you'll just have to make sure that Kilkastel gets you a new one."

  "Suri, don't be greedy," Yue chided, but looked delighted at the suggestion, while Pascal and Kilkastel had both gone varying shades of red on either side of him. "You don't need three fathers and two countries, my girl."

  "You raised me to be ambitious."

  As the royals continued to good-naturedly bicker, Foxglove inhaled slowly, closing his eyes and leaned back against the headboard. His chest ached a little, both inside and out, but he figured he'd be alright—for some reason, they'd all made sure of it.

  He felt the bed shift a little as Lucie leaned up against his side, twining her fingers with his own and resting her head against his shoulder. On his other side, he felt Fen settle in, supportive.

  "Do you need me to kick them out for you?" Fen asked. "You need your rest. And they're being noisy."

  "In a little bit," Foxglove murmured. "Right now, you know… I think I kind of like it."

  The Fifth Wheel

  NR DUNHAM

  Rebecca was hired by the Harrisons to tutor Andy. He was an eight-year-old who Elizabeth Harrison assured her over the phone was a joy of a child, just a little rambunctious. He had trouble focusing, but his mother would not pour ADD meds down his throat before checking other options first. Rebecca was the other option, referred by a friend of a friend in some playgroup of Andy's.

  Rebecca had been secretly pleased to find out she had any sort of good reputation. She was twenty-six and paying her bills through the tutoring, which meant she really had to remain reasonably good at it.

  Every family she worked with was special. But there was special and there was this. A series of small moments that hijacked Rebecca's brain, sent it twisting and turning in search of an explanation.

  It was Elizabeth's husband who answered the door for the first session. Grant Harrison was lean, with slightly messy blonde hair and a face full of stubble. He was cute, Rebecca thought, as cute as one could be with a baby in one arm, a hole in one of his socks and a small food stain on his shirt.

  He greeted her with a warm, crooked smile, introduced the baby with a head of blonde curls as Ellie—"named for my wife, why should guys usually be the ones with kids named for them?"—and led her to the boy she was about to tutor: Andrew when he was being difficult, Andy the rest of the time.

  Rebecca had spoken to Andy once through her phone screen before their first lesson. When she asked what his favorite part of school was, he said art. When she asked what subjects he might need help with, she heard about three of his favorite TV shows, what he had for lunch that day, and about the puppy his parents wouldn't buy him. Her usual then: a nice boy with no interest in doing extra schoolwork. Rebecca didn't blame him; she was more than used to it in her line of work.

  Grant told him he had to do well in school so he could get the job he liked when he was older, it was important.

  "You don't have a job," Andy pointed out.

  "My job is looking after you. But I had a job before that, and that's important."

  Rebecca laughed, then assured him they would be okay on their own when Ellie began fussing. She sat at the kitchen table with Andy and talked to him about things that weren't about school for a few minutes, so he wouldn't hate her immediately. He was excitable and funny when the topic was one he liked, less so when academics were involved. Still, Rebecca was reasonably sure he wouldn't try to stab her with a pencil in the next few minutes (not her favorite kid to work with, that one), so she soldiered on.

  The house was well-built, nicely furnished and large enough that wherever Grant took Ellie when he marched up the stairs, they couldn't hear her crying anymore.

  Half an hour in, Andy said his eyes were going funny from filling in the map he was supposed to label and color, so Rebecca suggested they try spelling for a bit. Keeping him on the same subject would only increase his frustration.

  "Spelling's okay, I guess," he said, though it was clear he would rather be outside. He kept looking toward a sliding glass door that led to the backyard.

  "Great!" Rebecca said, hoping he'd catch some of her enthusiasm. "Do you have your list of spelling words?"

  Andy frowned, drumming the table with one hand while he looked through his papers. They'd been set in neat piles organized by subject when Rebecca got there, presumably by Grant. Andy dug through them with his free hand, scattering worksheets all over the table. Rebecca could have found the page for him, but she wouldn't always be there, so it was important he learned to do this himself.

  "I left them in my room!" Andy declared after some fruitless searching.

  "Okay," Rebecca said calmly. She could already see he'd gotten worked up. "Do you think you can go to your room and get—"

  Andy was up, out of his chair, through the sliding glass door and into the backyard before she could finish her sentence.

  Rebecca blinked. She'd had runners before, but she usually did a better job of anticipating it. Standing, she crossed to the door he'd run through. She'd glimpsed a swing set out there, expected that to be his target. But no, Andy bolted right past that, across the grass and into the next yard. Now she was looking, Rebecca realized that this house and the one Andy was running towards were the only ones around without a fence between them. Rebecca was left to stand and watch as her pupil escaped, dashing past the covered swimming pool next door.

  Well, this was new.

  Her first instinct was to call for Mr. Harrison. She obeyed it, but checked her voice at the last minute, thinking the baby might be sleeping. She hesitated a moment before making her way up the stairs she'd last seen him climb. This wasn't weird or intrusive at all.

  "Mr. Harrison?" she called, loud as she dared. She repeated it, stopped on a landing between floors, repeated it again. She heard faint music or a TV show somewhere, something a toddler would listen to that would drive an adult mad. "Mr. Harrison?"

  There was a dull thud. Muttered, unintelligible words that weren't from whatever was playing. "Yeah! Be right there."

  She waited, utterly awkward on an employer's landing and worrying about where Andy might've got to. Mr. Harrison finally appeared, his gait a little funny. Perhaps he'd bumped his foot on whatever caused the thud. "Mr. Harrison—"

  "Grant. I'm Grant, please."

  "Okay," she said without using the name. She told him the situation as quickly and calmly as possible, how she'd let his boy escape into the next door neighbor's property.

  "Oh." He seemed surprisingly unaffected. More embarrassed than angry or worried. "Yeah, he didn't ditch you. I don't think he did. He probably did leave them there. It's my fault, I thought I'd helped him organize everything."

  "He said they were in his room?" It was more a question than she meant it to sound.

  "I look after the boy next door a lot, he and Andy are close. Andy's over at their place too quite a bit. He's sort of taken over their spare room. That's probably where he meant the papers were."

  "Oh." Rebecca saw him shift his weight awkwardly, brace his arm on the wall.

  "Ella Bella," he said dramatically, "your brother's gone over the wall, we have to go get him."

  Ellie made a rude noise with her lips and said she wanted to watch her show. She was watching singing turtles on TV even as she played with the controls of a recliner.

  Rebecca laughed in spite of herself.

  Grant smiled at her. "My beautiful, charming children, huh?"

  "They're great. So, Andy's okay over there?"

  "Oh yeah, Kate's home. Still
have to round him up and give him a talk about running off halfway through the lesson though."

  Grant was in the middle of going to get Andy when a woman's voice called out from downstairs, "Did you lose one again?"

  Grant gestured for Rebecca to follow and indicated she should preceded him down the stairs, so she did. Andy was at the bottom, holding the hand of a pretty redhead about Rebecca's age, maybe a little younger. The woman wore sweats, her hair in a messy ponytail. Apparently she hadn't planned on leaving the house anytime soon, though she didn't seem upset by the inconvenience.

  "Yeah, yeah, it was only twice this week," Grant said, then looked at Andy, his voice quiet but firm. "What did we say about running off without asking first?"

  "I wanted to play with Ty," Andy mumbled, head down.

  "Tyler's at tee ball, remember buddy?" the woman asked.

  "I want tee ball," Andy said, scuffing at the floor with his sneaker.

  "You had it, and you hated it," Grant replied.

  "I wanted treats."

  "Treats are for after dinner."

  "Not always," said Andy, lifting his head, challenging.

  Rebecca saw Grant's mouth twitch, barely. "No. But always as far as Mom is concerned, right? And they're definitely for after tutoring. Miss Rebecca drove all this way to help you, it's not nice to waste her time, is it?"

  "No, Daddy."

  "What do you say?"

  "Sorry, Daddy."

  "And?"

  He seemed confused, until Grant nodded pointedly at her. "Sorry, Miss Becca."

  "It's okay, Andy," Rebeca said. "Just warn me next time, huh? I thought I was so terrible that you had to run away from me."

  Andy giggled at that. Grant told him to go back to the table, then called him back. "Did you at least find your spelling words?"

  "Oh!" Andy dug in the pocket of his hoodie until he produced a crumpled sheet of paper. He grinned proudly.

  "Good man," Grant said. He let Andy go to the table this time and told him to read over his words.

  "He's got your judicious study habits," the woman said.

  Grant sent a mock scowl at her.

  "And your manners," she said, before looking as pointedly towards Rebecca.

  "Sorry, sorry. Rebecca, this is Kate Jones. Kate's from next door. Kate, this is Andy's tutor, who hopefully won't be quitting after today because he really is a good boy and my wife would kill me if you left."

  Rebecca chuckled, took the hand Kate held out. "It's nice to meet you. So, you have a son?"

  Kate seemed to find this funny for some reason, shared a quick look with Grant. "I do. My wife and I."

  "Oh." Kate had extended her right hand. Rebecca hadn't noticed the ring until she looked for it. "Wait." She thought of the signs littering various developments she'd seen coming over here. But it was such a common name. "Jones Construction?"

  Kate smiled though, a cluster of freckles on her right cheek becoming more prominent as she did. "My wife's company."

  "Seriously?"

  "Yup. Built it from the ground up."

  "She built our houses too," Grant said. "Here and next door." He gestured at their surroundings. "All courtesy of the magnificent Michaela."

  "Magnificent Michaela," Kate repeated. "I'm telling her you said that." She looked over at Andy, who was using pencils and the table as a drum set. "Well, he has to study, and so do I. It was great meeting you, Rebecca."

  "You too."

  "And you," Kate said, turning a smirk on Grant, "watch it, or I might have to go somewhere else for childcare."

  "You might have to pay someone then, too."

  "I pay you in sweets."

  "Hey, reminds me. Bring some of those muffins back, will you?"

  "Maybe, if I feel like it."

  Grant walked her out as Rebecca watched. They hugged at the door, then kissed. It was quick, chaste, but almost to the lips. And it looked like one of them had altered course at the last second, caught the other just to the side of the mouth, as if remembering Rebecca was there.

  *~*~*

  The next time she came to the house, Kate was there again. With coffee. And a somewhat enormous collection of baked goods.

  "Hey," she said brightly as Grant worked on getting Andy sat at the table with his stuff. "Come here, I brought your favorite coffee order."

  Rebecca set her things down with Andy's and went to the counter Kate was leaning on. "Did we talk coffee last time?"

  "No. It's my superpower. I know people's go to orders."

  "I don't really drink coffee," Rebecca said, apologetic. Kate seemed so cheerful and sure of herself, those freckles showing with her smile.

  "Ah." The smile grew even wider as she held out a Styrofoam cup. "That is exactly what my wife said. Try. Trust me."

  Bemused, Rebecca took the cup, took a cautious sip. "Whoa," she said before taking a longer one. "This is, this is really good." It was warm and sweet. There was coffee in it somewhere, but not the overwhelming taste that so many people loved and she couldn't stand.

  "Told you," Kate said, grinning. "Superpower."

  "What's in this?"

  "That is another thing my wife asked. But see, if I told her that, she could get her fix from any old employee. Didn't tell her, so she had to keep coming back."

  "She's devious," Grant said to Rebecca.

  "I am effective, that's what I am."

  "I'm very, very aware of that," Grant replied, half-wrestling Andy into his seat.

  "You work at a coffeehouse?" Rebecca asked, wondering if she was imagining a warm timbre to Grant's voice that hadn't been there earlier, or the way Kate responded to him. Her words seemed to bubble out with an almost gleeful air. Kate's son wasn't here, Grant had said; tee ball again.

  Kate nodded. "Right next to one of Michaela's old work sites."

  "Best muffins on the planet," Grant added. "Have one."

  Rebecca declined, hopefully gracefully.

  "I want one," Andy whined.

  "You had one," said Grant.

  "I want another one."

  "We'll see, after you study."

  "Don't want to study."

  Grant ran a hand through his hair. It was messy and stuck up at odd angles in the back, but the look had its charms on him. And his shirt was clean today. "Didn't we talk last time? Miss Rebecca came over just to help you. It's not nice to waste her time."

  "I like Miss Becca. I just don't like studying with her."

  Rebecca laughed; she couldn't help it. Andy was looking at her with such a sweet mixture of sincerity and frustration.

  "And I'm the only one who has to study," he continued, sulking. "Ty and Ellie don't."

  "Ellie's little still," Grant said. "Ty goes to school."

  "Only for a little while. Preschool isn't real school anyway. Real school doesn't have naps or snacks. I just want a snack," he finished, managing to sound very pathetic.

  Kate flashed Rebecca a smile, then went to where Andy sat. She knelt by his chair. "I have to study too, remember? I go to school."

  "But you like it," Andy muttered. "No one makes you."

  "No, they don't. But you like Miss Becca, right?"

  Andy nodded.

  "That's a start, isn't it? You like her, and she's here to make school easier for you. Maybe when it's not so hard, you'll find other things you like about it too."

  Andy looked dubious.

  "Come on, buddy. Let's both try our best, huh? At least you have Miss Becca to help you. Some of my teachers aren't half as nice."

  This, and the bribe of another muffin if he tried hard, thawed him. Grant helped Kate straighten up, a hand in hers first, then on her back, then pulled away quickly. Kate said she had to get back to her own schoolwork.

  Rebecca knew she had to get going, work while she had Andy's focus, but she couldn't help addressing Kate as they passed each other, Rebecca going to Andy, Kate to the sliding door he'd bolted through last time. "What are you studying?" she asked with Kate's mystery drink
warm in her hand.

  "The Classics. Greek Mythology, mostly."

  "Huh."

  Kate grinned. "I know. Weird, useless major, right?"

  "I didn't say that."

  "Guess you're the weird one then. Basically everyone says it's useless."

  "I don't say it's useless," Grant declared. "But I am going to see about Ellie and her nap."

  "Suck up," Kate replied. Then she stepped closer to Rebecca, clasped her wrist.

  Rebecca froze. It was a light grip, but unexpected, and she wasn't sure what would come next. Kate was holding her free hand, but it felt suddenly warmer than the one with the coffee.

  Kate leaned close to Rebecca's ear, whispered. "It's a weird major. I said I wanted to study everything Zeus stuck his dick in, but that's like, literally everything."

  It was such an absurd, crass thing to say, especially in that low tone. Rebecca cracked up laughing, almost spilled her new favorite go to all over herself, didn't think at all about Kate's breath, or how it tickled her ear.

  *~*~*

  She kept tutoring Andy, kept having pleasant interactions with Grant. And Kate. Who wasn't there all the time—she had work shifts and classes—but still seemed to be present quite a lot for a neighbor. Even one whose son was Andy's best friend.

  Eventually, Rebecca met Tyler. He was quieter than Andy, less hyper, but the parents agreed that he would be a distraction, when Andy was already prone to those. But something had come up at work and Kate couldn't stay home, so Tyler came to Grant's.

  The fears about distraction weren't entirely unjustified, but Rebecca worked around them the best she could. Tyler was younger and clearly looked up to Andy, and Rebeca used that to her advantage. Andy wanted to show off for his friend, show what they learned in "real school," so Rebecca was able to keep him mostly on task. She reviewed things with him that he already had some grasp on so that he could teach them to Tyler and so learn the material better himself.

  Tyler was interested even though he didn't fully grasp things. He was oddly fascinated by the flashcards she used to quiz Andy, which made Andy more interested in showing how they worked and proving his knowledge of them. By the end of their session, Rebecca was quickly scribbling out a few cards for Tyler, with the names of colors, different words that started with certain letters of the alphabet, things Grant said he Tyler was learning in preschool.