Happiness in Numbers

by Nicole Field

  He could have gotten the same knowledge off a million apps on a tablet, but Tyler seemed to like the physical nature of the cards, how he could toss them in piles as he worked through them. And he looked at her like she was brilliant, like she'd invented the simple concept of words on cards herself, just to entertain him and make him the same as Andy.

  It made Rebeca's day, regardless of who she was actually meant to be teaching.

  Then there was Grant, who claimed he'd come in for a snack, then been distracted as much as his son ever was and simply hadn't left. He wore a similar look to Tyler's, as if she'd ascended to the moon and brought back a bag of souvenirs in the last hour, not simply sat at his table and tried to teach a few facts.

  Kate walked through the front door without knocking as Rebecca was packing to leave. She did that, Rebecca noticed, never knocked, just entered the house. This time she came with a backpack and a coffee tray, neither of which she had a chance to put down before Tyler was on her with hugs for greeting.

  Rebecca smiled as he greeted his mom. He'd been relatively quiet with her, but to Kate he talked a mile a minute, his words tripping over themselves as he recounted every part of his day.

  "I'm smart like Andy!" he declared, gap-toothed and grinning.

  "You are?" Kate sounded suitably enthralled as Grant helped her off with her coat, something she couldn't manage alone because Tyler was still clinging and Andy was circling her, trying to get at the coffee tray, asking repeatedly if 'the chocolatey-choc drink' was there.

  "Miss Becca went above and beyond today," Grant said. "Gave Ty Guy a free lesson."

  "I taught Ty things!" Andy said.

  "You did. And Rebecca taught you both things."

  By the time Kate put her things down, Tyler was thrusting piles of his cards at her, spilling half on the floor. When the chaos was finally settled some minutes later, Kate beamed and thanked Rebecca, who squirmed under the praise, picking up the last of the spilled cards and holding them out to Kate.

  "It's really not that big a deal," she said, turning her flushed face to the living room. Grant had herded the boys in there, Andy with his chocolatey-choc drink, Tyler with some kind of smoothie. They both slurped from their straws. "I enjoyed the extra company."

  "Extra company's still extra work for you."

  "I enjoyed it," Rebecca assured again.

  Kate took the fallen cards from her, which were slightly bent from Ty's rough handling. She straightened them, put them on the table. Then she held out a cup from the tray. "Trade for the extra work."

  Surprised, Rebecca looked at the cup, no doubt containing her mystery drink. "You didn't have to, let me…" She stuttered, trying to remember where she'd set her purse to pay for the coffee. Her purse was on a hook, she remembered, all the way by the front door.

  "Quit it." Kate's hands pushed the drink into hers. "You taught my kid. Call it the barter system if you want."

  Kate's grip lingered until Rebecca relented. "Thank you," she said, taking a long drink. Not a fluke, just as good as last time. "Totally worth it."

  Kate laughed. "I'm glad."

  "You going to tell me what it is?"

  "I haven't told Michaela what hers is yet."

  Michaela. Her wife. She'd momentarily forgotten that Kate had a wife; Tyler another mother.

  "I am not completely unreasonable though," Kate said. "I will give you its place of origin."

  There were a couple of blank flashcards, from the pile she'd been using to fill out Tyler's. Kate took one, grabbed a Spongebob pencil Andy coveted above all others, and wrote.

  Rebecca put down her drink, somewhat reluctantly. She took the card when Kate held it out, saw the name and address of a coffee shop she'd yet to find on her trips here. Not that she'd looked too hard.

  Kate seemed to read her mind, gave her rough directions from where they were. Rebecca assured her that the GPS would be there if she needed it. "Kalylynn's?" she asked, reading the name on the card.

  "My mom. Dad says he was being romantic naming the place after her, which, maybe. But Kalylynn's is clearly more small-town neighborhood coffee joint than Rob's."

  "Rob?"

  "That would be dad."

  "Of course. What if you're not working when I come in?"

  "Then I guess you'll be terribly disappointed, huh?" Kate left it there a moment before continuing. "Don't worry, my co-workers know my crazy tactics. Just tell whoever that your Kate's friend, Miss Becca."

  Rebecca smiled at it, the faint ridiculousness of using her name with her students in an adult setting. "Tactics?" she repeated. "Is there something special you want to achieve with these tactics?"

  Kate shrugged. "Gets more people to hang out with me."

  "I don't think you need to bribe people with secret drink orders to get them to hang out with you."

  "Maybe not, but it helps, right?" Kate smiled.

  Rebecca did too. "It helps."

  Grant returned, put one of the drinks—something with a mountain of whipped cream on it—in the fridge. "Liz is going to be late, better preserve that."

  "Will I be seeing Mrs. Harrison any time soon?" Although Elizabeth Harrison was the one who interviewed her over a Facetime call, first asked her to help Andy, it was now several sessions in and Rebecca had yet to see her again.

  Grant nodded as though he'd been expecting the question. "I've been keeping her updated. It's her boss's fault, she's a real slave driver."

  Kate had brought her own drink from work, sipped at it now. Grant stopped in front of her and took it from her hand. He drank from it, using her straw, only slightly less loudly than the boys used theirs.

  "Hey!" Kate smacked his arm. "Elizabeth gave me a whole spiel about cholesterol. You're not supposed to have that."

  "Yes well. What Liz doesn't know won't hurt her."

  Rebecca wondered, as she had more than once, what the story was between these two. Whether there was some sort of an arrangement, based on the fact that Liz was so often at work, and Michaela owning her own company couldn't leave her much time at home. She didn't want to assume outright infidelity. The dishonesty of infidelity frustrated her and she liked them both. Rebecca didn't want to think either of them was lying to their spouse. What was to say they didn't simply have a different setup to their relationship? Rebecca felt uneasy not knowing for sure, though.

  "Fine," Kate said. "I'll just tell her slave driver boss. See what happens to you then."

  "You wouldn't." There was something in their tones of voice that told Rebecca she didn't understand everything underneath what was being said here.

  "I would to avoid another Elizabeth lecture," Kate said with a laugh.

  After a moment of attempting to stare each other down, Grant gave Kate her drink back. Kate's wedding ring flashed in the waning sunlight coming through the windows as she took it.

  "Please don't tell Michaela," Grant said, with the same earnest tone and wide eyes Andy usedwhen he was begging Rebecca to end the session five minutes early.

  "My wife and I have no secrets," Kate replied, dramatic and scandalized. Then Kate looked at Rebecca again. "Oh, didn't he say? Elizabeth works for Michaela."

  "Why would I have said that to her?" Grant asked. "You say that like it's some essential thing I would've told her."

  "I just assumed. You blab her ear off, so I assumed."

  "I do not blab her ear off."

  "You kind of do. Every time she's here that I've been here. She gets paid to listen to you talk and tutor Andy. Wish I did. I'm sure Elizabeth wishes she did."

  "I do not," he shook his head. "Do I blab, Rebecca?"

  He did, a little, while they both struggled to get Andy to focus. But Rebecca didn't mind, found it sweet the way he talked about Ellie and what new things she'd done recently. But she also didn't want to take Kate's side against her employer. "I—"

  "Don't put that on her," Kate said. "Like she'd even tell you the truth."

  "Of course she would. She's not deceptive
, not devious, like you." Grant looked at her. His stubble was turning into more of a beard, and he frowned beneath it. "Did I really not tell you Elizabeth works for Michaela?"

  "I," Rebecca took long gulps of her drink before settling on the most neutral tone she could summon. "No, I don't think you mentioned that."

  *~*~*

  She didn't usually come on Saturdays, but the schedule just happened to fall that way. And thank God for that. She'd already had a session early this morning. The girl's father had scowled at her when she showed up, as if he wasn't the one who'd set the meeting time. Then it was Rebecca who got flak for the child not doing any of her assignments for the week. It was too early in the morning for this, and Rebecca hadn't even had whatever her go to coffee drink was.

  Andy and the Harrisons were a different story though, she'd kept reminding herself. She stood at their door, after ringing the bell, wondering what sort of old, rumpled t-shirt Grant would treat her to today. She was betting on the faded Styx concert remnant that looked older than him. The door swung open.

  It wasn't the Styx tee.

  It wasn't Grant who was standing in front of her either.

  It was Elizabeth Harrison. They'd never met in person, only on Rebecca's five-year-old phone screen. Which had not done the woman justice. She was dressed casually, slacks and a simple blouse, no makeup. Her hair was down, thick, dark brown and long. She was taller than Kate, her skin smooth, light. Casually gorgeous.

  "Miss Gaines," she said, smiling softly.

  Rebecca blinked at the formal use of her name. She was stupid and staring and couldn't do anything about it.

  "Or do you prefer Miss Becca?" Mrs. Harrison held out her hand.

  Rebecca took the hand automatically, more flustered than she had any right to be. Grant and Kate had started calling her Becca, from time to time, like the kids did. It wasn't something adults usually did, or that she'd even noticed right away.

  "Rebecca is fine." As they shook, Rebecca noticed a tattoo circling Mrs. Harrison wrist. An ouroboros, it looked like, the snake eating its tail. Her hands were warm, delicate, nails neat and painted. Her grip was solid, stronger than Rebecca would've guessed. "It's good to see you again, Mrs. Harrison. In person, I mean."

  "If Rebecca is fine, so is Elizabeth. Come on in."

  Rebecca made a mental note of that even as Elizabeth made small talk during the short walk to their usual kitchen workstation. Andy was already in his chair, his papers laid out in front of him, showing no signs that he'd need to be bribed into staying there. This really was a weird day.

  "Can I get you anything before you start?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Where's Grant?" Rebecca blurted.

  Oh dear God. His wife was six feet away, they had met face to face all of two minutes ago and Rebecca had said that. And she could barely keep herself from asking about Kate.

  "Daddy's a pirate but his ship's been in port for repairs," Andy said without missing a beat. "Hi, Miss Becca."

  "Hey, Andy." He was excitable, sometimes scattered, but Rebecca had considered herself better at following his thought process by now.

  "Grant's not feeling well," Elizabeth translated. "Nothing serious, he's just taking a rest day. Lemonade?"

  "No thanks." If Elizabeth was aware of Rebecca's improper and unprofessional crush on her husband, she didn't show it.

  "Well, I'll leave you guys to it then. Rebecca, are you okay to stay a few extra minutes when you're done? We haven't gotten to talk since you started, my fault. I don't want you thinking I'm some uninvolved parent who dumps everything on dad and the tutor."

  "I don't think that, at all."

  "Still, I'd like to touch base. I know it's Saturday, so if you have plans—"

  "No, no. I'm good to stay as long as you need." The only plans she'd had were to hang out with this woman's husband and child, and their neighbor who Grant might or might not be sleeping with. Maybe have one of Kate's delicious muffins, if they were in stock.

  She was a terrible person.

  The day did not improve much. Elizabeth was up and down the stairs, occupied with Ellie. She'd enter the living room to get this or that. Once she grabbed a pack of applesauce from the kitchen. She was quiet about it, but Rebecca sensed the other woman's watchfulness. She'd never seen Rebecca's work with her son and had already expressed regret about that; of course she'd watch now. Her methods weren't nearly as intrusive as some of the others Rebecca had experienced, Elizabeth was hardly breathing down her neck.

  Yet Rebecca was nervous.

  Whether he was feeding off her stress, or simply didn't want to be doing homework before noon, Andy wasn't at his best either. She'd been trying for weeks to make second grade math make sense to him. Subtraction was not Andy's friend. He didn't understand carrying the numbers over, how a ten could become a one, why the numbers had to change just because they had two digits. More than that, he didn't understand why it mattered when he could simply use the calculator on daddy's phone.

  He was frustrated and distracted and trying to distract her. He talked to her about a drawing he'd made in art and then sulked when she promised to look at it only after the session was over. He said he wanted desperately to swim in the pool next door, couldn't wait for it to be warm enough. He invited her to come swim with him. The worksheet of ten problems might have been a hundred. They were less than halfway through when it was clear he'd stopped trying; was simply writing numbers at random.

  "Do you want to show your work for that?" Rebecca asked, very aware of Elizabeth on the couch, doing something on her laptop and witnessing everything.

  "No," Andy said, picking at his eraser.

  "Andy, come on. You're smart, you can do this."

  "No," he said again, pushing his chair away from the table.

  "Andy—"

  "If I was smart, my parents wouldn't make you come over. Smart people don't need dumb people like you to come to their house and bug them about things!"

  Rebecca was taken aback. She'd seen him frustrated, occasionally needed backup to keep him focused, but he'd never snapped at her like that.

  "Andrew Michael Harrison!" Elizabeth stood, laptop forgotten. "You apologize to Miss Becca. Now."

  Andy merely scowled at her and stood from the table.

  "Hey." Elizabeth said. She wasn't yelling, but her tone held a firm warning.

  "Sorry," Andy mumbled, not sounding it at all. He glared at his mother, then Rebecca, then bolted out the glass door over his mother's protests. He pulled it shut too hard, rattling the glass.

  Smooth, pale skin marred with a frown, Elizabeth rubbed at her temple and held her eyes closed for a moment before they opened and found Rebecca's. "That woke Grant, I'm sure. Would you give me a minute to—?"

  "Sure," Rebecca said, feeling utterly defeated. There were fifteen minutes left in the session, but she doubted she'd make any use of them. She began sorting papers full of cross-outs and eraser marks as Elizabeth went upstairs.

  Some minutes later, the house remained too quiet after the sudden noise of earlier, and Rebecca was taking too long with the last of the pages. Her neat practice problems, Andy's childish scrawl underneath, the circled numbers and arrows and words she'd written in explanation. Obviously not worth much.

  "Grant's been updated so he won't be panicking and—sorry."

  The words came from Elizabeth, the last of them because she'd scared the hell out of Rebecca. Elizabeth was in her socks. None of the stairs had creaked and Rebecca had nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing her client's voice so close.

  "No, I, it was my fault." Rebecca slid the page in the yellow folder labeled 'Andy's Math,' glad at least that she hadn't dropped it to the floor, further embarrassing herself. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Harrison."

  Dark eyebrows rose. "It was my son who was just incredibly rude to you. And it's Elizabeth," she added, stressing the correction. "Unless that outburst has put you off working with us, Miss Gaines?"

  "No! That's, no," she continued,
forcing her voice to something like normal. "Not if you still want me. Want me to help Andy."

  "And why wouldn't we still want you? To help Andy?"

  One side of Elizabeth's mouth was turned up. She leant casually against the kitchen chair across from where Rebecca stood. "I haven't made a very good showing of doing that."

  "Of helping Andy?" Elizabeth asked, eyebrows still high.

  Rebecca nodded and Elizabeth laughed, and Rebecca wondered if she was being mocked.

  "Rebecca…"

  Elizabeth shook her head and chuckled and Rebecca was certain now that she was being mocked. "Yes?" she said, trying to hide her hurt, her defensiveness.

  She must've failed because Elizabeth straightened up. She shook her head again but the action was different somehow. "Damn it."

  It was so quiet. Rebecca wasn't sure it was directed at her, wasn't sure of anything as Elizabeth stepped forward, very close to her.

  "May I?"

  Another soft ask. Rebecca froze, her body stalled, completely off-balance. Then Elizabeth reached down and tapped Andy's math folder twice with one of those perfect nails. Rebecca realized her hand was covering it and yanked her palm away. She bit down on another apology.

  Elizabeth opened the folder, rifled through until she found the half-done assignment. "You did this," she said holding up the page. "You helped him do this."

  The blank half of the page was too large, accusing. She could see Andy's handwriting get worse and worse as he'd grown more frustrated. Part of the problem was that he couldn't always read his own numbers.

  "It's not finished," Rebecca said, stating the obvious.

  Elizabeth's lips turned up at the edges. "It took what, an hour, hour and a half for this?"

  A little less, since Andy had run off before their time ended. Rebecca didn't point it out.

  "It used to take us twice as long to do half as much. Rebecca," she said, chuckling again. "I'm sorry. It's not funny. But it would be, if you understood. That tantrum back there? Picture that every night, times ten. Getting Andy's homework done was like a second job in itself, never mind Ellie and dinner and anything else that needed doing."