by Cara Dee
I blinked, then coughed around a chuckle. “You’re right, sweetheart. They do die eventually.”
“Sweet Jesus!” Casey stared at her in disbelief before he cracked up too.
“What’s funny?” She was the picture of innocence and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.
“Nothing, you’re just so damn cute.” I gave her another forehead kiss. “Okay, so you’re gonna have a movie night. That sounds fun.” They nodded together, and I addressed Thea. “Remember they’re not fluent, yes? You have your notepad, I take it?”
She nodded again.
“Not our first rodeo, is it?” Casey bounced her on his hip. She gave him her biggest grin. “You want a ride to the Quad?” he asked me. “Dominic told me you’re having pizza there tonight.”
We were? That was news to me. “I don’t mind the walk, but thank you,” I answered. “I need to stretch my legs a bit.”
“All right. In that case…” He repositioned Thea in order to reach something from his pocket. “The reason we stopped by. Dominic asked Ellis to print out some business cards for him, and I forgot to give them to him earlier. Do you mind?”
“No, of course not.” I accepted the stack of cards and eyed the design curiously. Knowing my boy, I doubted he’d had any requests beyond his name, email, and cell number. Ellis owned an ad agency, and he had no doubt sent this to one of his design teams, so perhaps they’d thought this was a good idea. Or maybe this was a trend? In the middle of the card was a white rectangular box with Dominic’s info. It was the frame, the rest of the space, that struck me as odd. On a background of dark green, the word “be” was typed repeatedly in white in various fonts.
Perhaps it represented something else, though I had no clue what. His official job title at the Quad was activity coordinator. His names didn’t even have a B in them, first, middle, or last.
“I’ll make sure he gets them,” I said, slipping them into my bag. “Thank Ellis for us, please.”
“Will do.” Casey watched me, as if he was going to say something else, so I waited. Only for him to grin and shake his head. “Okay, we’re gonna go. Have fun and all that.”
All right, then.
“Wait,” I said. “What about preschool tomorrow?” Thea didn’t attend the same school as Casey’s daughter.
“We’ve got it all covered, buddy. Go.” He smiled.
Well, okay. Was he acting strangely? I couldn’t be sure, and I did have to go now. Otherwise, I’d be late. So I wished them a fun movie night and then continued my walk toward the Quad.
Halfway there, Gabe caught up with me, so I took the opportunity to ask him about his work experience. He wasn’t eighteen yet, he had school that he couldn’t neglect, and he needed a fair amount of money, which brought me a challenge.
“What if you turned a blind eye and let me hustle just a little?” he suggested. “The snobs up in Ponderosa crunch Ritalin like they’re Tic Tacs. I could easily make—”
“And if you get caught, you go straight to juvie,” I pointed out. “May I ask a personal question?”
“Shoot.” He zipped up his hoodie and stuck his hands down into the pockets of his jeans.
“The money… You said it’s going to your mother.” I phrased myself carefully. “Is she in any kind of trouble with, how should I put this—”
“She doesn’t owe the wrong people money,” he chuckled. “We’re just so far behind on rent that we’re out on our asses if we can’t catch up. She’s been trying to pay off the loans Dad left us with.”
I found relief in that, though the problems remained. Except, they were temporary. We could fix this together. I already had some ideas, but I needed them to coalesce into something practical. Because as easy as it would be to send him across town to mow lawns and walk dogs, it would be too time-consuming and rob him of study time.
“I’ll get something sorted for you this weekend,” I told him. “You’re showing up on Sunday, right?”
The fishing near Silver Beach last Sunday had been a success. A rainy, smelly, whiny success. Of those who’d been there, Gabe had probably complained the loudest about the weather, the gutting of fish, and the getting tangled in fishing line, but they’d all walked home with enough food to feed their families for a few days.
“Do I have to?” He was getting ready to complain again. “It took me two days to get the fish smell outta my hair.”
“You poor thing,” I mocked. “Yes, you have to. If you want those seventy-five bucks, you’ll be there bright and early, and you’ll help out. Dominic has quite a few new kids who signed up, so we’ll need all the assistance we can get.”
He chewed on that for a bit, seemingly bothered by something. “Does that mean the money’s coming outta your pocket?”
“This time. Is that a problem?”
“Yeah,” he grated. “Now I can’t let you down.”
I chuckled and patted him on the back. “That’s the spirit.”
Upon entering the Quad, I noticed there was an unusually large attendance tonight, with an easy forty or so teenagers instead of the regular fifteen or twenty.
“Jared.” I shook hands with one of my freshmen. “It’s been a while since you came in on Thursdays.”
“I’ve been helping out at the park a lot,” he replied. “Mr. Teague said he was gonna give four of us summer jobs, so I thought if I stuck around…”
I nodded. “Great attitude. I hope you get it.” Aware of his home situation, where he was alone with a single father and three younger sisters, I made a mental note to text Casey. I’d be more than happy to vouch for Jared.
I continued past the café and down the hall where the counseling rooms and offices were. In the break room, I stowed away my jacket and my bag. I found another temporary vase for my flowers, and then I returned to the common areas and scanned the groups of people for Dominic. I nodded in hello to Maggie in the gaming corner where she was firmly planted in a beanbag chair playing Grand Theft Auto with a handful of boys.
Marcela, one of the counselors, was making a rare appearance outside of her office. She was speaking to a girl near the exit, one we knew had come here more than once with a black eye.
No sign of Dominic—
“Mr. D!” Amber piped up from the picnic tables in the café and waved me over. “I can’t find anything wrong with marches. Not the peaceful ones, anyway.”
Rolling up the sleeves of my shirt, I got settled next to her so I could help with her homework.
“Not as worried about boring professionalism here, huh?” she teased, tapping her pen at a tattoo on my arm.
“Focus, brat,” I chuckled. The kids around here, especially my students, enjoyed some good-natured ribbing about the fact that I played by different rules whether I was in my classroom or here. The way I saw it, looking presentable and being more formal in class was a good introduction to the expectations they’d face in the work field.
“Okay. Like I said.” She shrugged and shifted her textbook closer to me. “There are no downsides to nonviolent protests.”
I pushed up my glasses and skimmed through the text. “In the grand scheme of things, no. We can look back at the walks for women’s suffrage today and see the progress they made. They took their grassroots all the way to Congress. But let’s look at it from another angle. You see the timeline here—it was a battle that took up the better part of a century, from the time the first organizations began to when the Nineteenth Amendment was voted in.” I paused. “For the generations of women who lived during this time, there were plenty of downsides.”
Amber chewed on her lip, thinking. “Like, when people worked against them?”
“That’s certainly one of them.” I nodded. “By merely exercising their First Amendment rights, they were met by oppression, public shaming, resistance from their religious communities, and ridicule. Because when someone shouts to be heard, it’s easier to shout louder instead of paying attention. As humans, we’re defensive by nature, and we want
to protect what we’re accustomed to. So while the progress made should be celebrated, we should also tend to the scars that linger even today—”
“All right, I get it.” She started scribbling in her notebook. “You don’t have to lecture, Mr. D. Thank you.”
I snorted and rose from my seat. “It’s called teaching, and it’s sort of my thing.” Slightly miffed—though more amused—to have been cut off from my passionate speech, I moved on and checked in with the other kids who were doing their homework. And passionate was all it was. I didn’t lecture, did I? I taught. I shared.
Camas High was big enough to fill my schedule with nothing but history. I didn’t teach any other subjects. That said, a teacher’s salary was never much to brag about, so I did have some experience in other fields of social studies. In between semesters, I worked as a substitute teacher in both history and geography at various schools’ summer programs. This summer, I’d fill in for anyone who was sick—or needed to get away from their students for a day—as well as have six weeks of teaching at a private academy in Ponderosa, something I couldn’t say I was looking forward to. It paid preposterously well, but none of those children wanted to be there. The particularly privileged were difficult to engage.
Then, it was completely worth it when it afforded us a nice vacation, and I had high hopes to go away two weeks this summer too. I’d half jokingly warned Dominic when we got together that a vacation every year was nonnegotiable.
Where was he this evening?
I scanned the Quad once more and was about to pull out my phone to call him when I heard a student yell out, “Pizza’s here!”
It resulted in a flurry of activity around me; we’d never had pizza here before, so everyone was excited.
Someone was walking out of the hall of offices, and I registered a pair of nice slacks and a form-fitting button-down before I did a double take. It was Dominic. My next once-over lasted far longer, and I swallowed the desire that flared up. Heat rose to my face and neck. I was one big question mark, one that would be sporting an inappropriate erection if I didn’t pull myself together.
I’d never seen him dress up. He was a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy. For holidays, he donned a fitted pullover instead, and that was more than enough for me. Or so I’d thought.
He met my gaze with a crooked, half-uncertain smile and walked out of a catalogue of my newest fantasy. His dark hazel eyes sparked with something I couldn’t identify, but I knew in that second that he was a man who could get anything and anyone he reached for. He was the perfect blend of unpredictable bad boy with a sharp mind and foul mouth, and loyal provider who still, for some unknown reason, turned to me for answers. An irresistible combination for me, I’d learned.
“How you doin’, gorgeous?” He smirked and popped a quick kiss to my lips. “Lemme just get the pies. I’ll be right back.”
God.
I cleared my throat into my fist and suppressed a violent shiver. Something was going on here, and I couldn’t wait to interrogate him about it when we got home. Then hopefully fuck him six ways to Sunday.
Half a dozen kids crowded Dominic in the space between the doors, and he handed over at least four stacks of pizza boxes. Make that five. He kept one stack of five pies after handing over money and what looked like a few vouchers. It was a Dominic thing. He scored discounts for anything that revolved around the Quad. No one could resist him when he said, “It’s for the kids.”
At the same time as the teenagers passed me with the boxes, Maggie instructed them to set it all up on the picnic tables, and two other Quad volunteers walked in, asking if they were late.
“Nope, just in time.” Dominic slapped Mark on the shoulder and jerked his chin my way. “Let’s eat.”
Mark and Duane volunteered on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I didn’t see them very often.
Something was definitely up, and I grew suspicious. Dominic had brought change into our community, but he always discussed his ideas with me first. We’d become each other’s sounding boards, which I adored, and now I had no clue what was going on.
With his free hand, Dominic grabbed one of mine and walked over to the café. I heard Maggie telling him everything was ready, the girls seemed gigglier than usual, and the boys were mostly ravenous for pizza. Lids were flipped open, sending waves of the smell of cheese and oregano over us.
“Yo!” Dominic let out a sharp whistle and spoke over the chatter. “Once youse’ve plated your slices, kindly fuck off so the rest can grab food too. Thank you.”
I caught Amber watching me with a big grin.
Paper plates were handed out, greasy pizza slices following, and everyone reconvened in the gaming corner. As if they’d been told to sit there.
I furrowed my brow and stepped to the side, not wanting to get in the way. Unlike these hungry monsters, I could pace myself. A chuckle slipped out as I watched two guys argue over the last pepperoni.
“Guys, just open another box,” I told them.
“This is so not like New York pizza.” Dominic chewed around a mouthful of pizza.
“You say that every time we order pizza,” I said, amused. Amused and confused.
“And it’s true every time.” He smirked and wiped his mouth. Most had gotten their food by now, and he grabbed a paper plate and put two slices on it, then extended it to me. “Ugh. I don’t think I can eat just yet.” He pressed a fist to his sternum and waited as if he was going to belch. Now that I could look at him without losing the ability to speak, I saw more. He hadn’t slept today, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he was nervous.
“Are you feeling okay?” I slipped a hand to the back of his neck, then his forehead. He was a little clammy.
He exhaled a short laugh. “Ask me in ten minutes. Come on. The movie’s starting.”
More confused than ever, I followed him to the gaming corner. The ceiling was a bit lower here, and the floor was littered with beanbags and low tables. While Dominic joined Maggie at the big screen, I stayed back and leaned against one of the concrete pillars.
“Go stand with Adrian,” Maggie urged quietly. “I know what I’m doing.”
Dominic huffed and picked up a white cardboard box from next to the TV. “Fine.”
“Everyone be quiet!” Amber hollered, causing my eyebrows to lift.
It was an impressive crowd she managed to silence.
“Aight, shortest movie night in history, maybe.” That was all Dominic said before he returned to my side.
I pressed a kiss to his temple. “When I figure out what’s going on, I’d like a minute to thank you for the flowers.”
He made a strange noise, like half a strangled laugh, and nodded at the screen. “Just watch, Teach.”
Fair enough. Biting into my pizza slice, I watched the screen come to life, and I nearly choked on my food right away. So it was a home video.
“Okay, here we go.” It was a close-up of Zach’s face. He wiped the lens, grinned, and gave a little wave. “Hey, people who are watching. I’m Zach. This is Dominic, but you already knew that.”
I heard Dominic chuckling in the background. “They would if your face wasn’t taking up the whole shot.”
“Oh, right.” Zach moved out of the way, revealing the living room of his and Henry’s house. And Dominic, who was seated on the couch scribbling on a piece of paper. “So…Dominic—shit, I forgot to say hey to Adrian. Hi, Adrian.” Zach’s face took up the view again, and I smiled despite the whirlwind of bafflement. “I feel the need to warn you that the snippets you’re about to see won’t be fantastically edited like this one, ’cause they’ll be put together in a mad rush. Today, I suppose I should say. I mean, not today-today for us—we’re filming this a couple days in advance, but for you, it’s today. And for the other snippets, it’s also today—a few days from now—”
“Dude, do you want another take?” Dominic asked.
“No, I can save this,” Zach insisted.
“You can’t save it, dear,” I heard He
nry drawl in the background.
I grinned. The kids around us were highly entertained too.
“Fuck both of you,” Zach said, only to peer into the camera. “Don’t curse, children. It’s bad. Then again, you see Dominic on a daily basis… My God.” That cracked everyone up, and I was happy to see Gabe laughing around his pizza. “Anyway. Let’s circle back. Dominic, are you afraid this is all going to be too subtle?”
Dominic frowned on the screen. “It’s supposed to be. If he figures it out early, I won’t be there.”
I side-eyed him, my stomach knotting up with nerves. Had it not been my birthday a couple months ago, I would’ve started hoping he had a fun surprise for me. Now, though… Good God, I hadn’t forgotten an anniversary, had I? We’d celebrated our one year. Was there anything else?
“That pretty much sums it up,” Zach said, “but for you, Adrian, here is a recap.”
The screen went dark for a couple seconds before I was met by a familiar sight. It was the inside of my classroom, and it was none other than Amber who was filming. She was in selfie-mode, holding her phone like kids these days did on Instagram and Snapchat.
I glanced over at her, noticing she was wearing the same shirt. This had been today.
“So I just sent Dominic a picture,” she said into the camera. The voices of a handful of boys in my class made her throw them an irritated look, but her bright smile returned swiftly. “It’s for a gift,” she whispered conspiratorially. “But I wanted to show you guys what I took the photo of before Mr. D comes in.” She turned the camera on the whiteboard where Willie’s random doodling of his name was written in blue. “Will. It’s a good beginning, isn’t it? See you soon, Mr. D!”
Hold up, now things got even worse. Had Amber written that on the board? For what reason?
After another second-long break, a new snippet opened with a wrapped bouquet of flowers. It looked like they were on the hood of our car. One glimpse of a certain hand let me know it was Dominic, and his warm voice soon followed.
“This should confuse your pretty head enough, Teach.” He showed a heart-shaped sticker stuck to the tip of his finger, and he flipped open the card to attach it next to “You.”
