“I haven’t gotten ayour brother isn’t doing his workcall in weeks. You’re doing something right, Will.” Aly sank her teeth into her full bottom lip, and all the blood in Will’s body moved south.
He looked away and discreetly adjusted himself. Thankfully, he was alone in the hall. A semi in slacks wasn’t ideal in any setting, but especially in a school. He ran through a few of the state capitals he and Andy had been working on to fix his problem. And mere moments after he had things under control, the door to the classroom swung open.
“Hold on, we’re about to go in.”
The man and woman who exited were a few years older than him. They nodded a hello as they moved past.
“Well, well. My second Evans of the night.” Ms. Silverman shook her head.
“Was my nephew’s conference today too?” He doubted this conference would be much like Steve’s. Unlike Andy, his nephew was a rule follower. A perfectionist and a pleaser. The chaos in Beth and Marc’s home came 100 percent from their female offspring. Mandy and Peyton were the ones who gave his brother-in-law gray hair.
“Yes, about an hour ago. I see Beth often, but it’s been over a decade since you’ve been here, Mr. Evans.” Ms. Silverman smiled. Two of his younger brothers, Clayton and Joey, had been in her class years ago. Her white-blond hair and wrinkles told her age, but so did the knowledge that she’d been a seasoned teacher back when his brothers had been her students.
Will had been barely twenty-one when he attended Clayton’s fifth-grade conference. He had spent a lot of time trying to forget that part of his life, and yet, lately, more and more memories surfaced.
“About that,” he lifted his phone, “I have Andy’s sister Aly Gomez on FaceTime.”
“Ms. Gomez.” She nodded at the screen. “Neither of you should look so worried. I’ve seen vast improvement in Andre’s behavior over the last few weeks.”
The statement gave Will a weird lift. He didn’t know what to make of the feeling surging through him. Was it pride?
“His desk is right here.” Ms. Silverman nodded to the small desk directly in front of hers. “I like to keep an eye on him.”
“Yeah.” Will chuckled. “I find that works best too.”
“Salt water isn’t my favorite.” Her nose scrunched up.
“Salted coffee isn’t so great either.” Will chuckled and peeked at Aly, who looked horrified.
“Don’t worry,” Andy’s teacher assured, “he’s gotten much better lately. I even caught him smiling twice this week instead of glaring at me.”
“Apart from swimming, I don’t get smiles too often either,” Will agreed.
On-screen, Aly’s gray eyes swirled dark. In the last few weeks, those smoky eyes had become a fixture in his life. Normally, they were the color of a foggy morning, but when Aly got upset, they turned the color of wood smoke.
“I don’t see him enough to know.” She bit the inside of her lip so hard it was easy to spot, even on his phone’s small screen. The guilt that echoed in her voice made Will wish he could reach through the device and squeeze her hand. She was trying. It was obvious how much she cared, but she was hard on herself.
“You’ll be here soon,” Will murmured. He crouched down and peered into Andy’s desk. There were a few folders and a couple of notebooks stacked inside. It was neat, just like Andy’s room at home. Although he had the potential to cause chaos, he was a pretty clean kid. Looking through Andy’s desk, Will found a folded piece of paper with his name on it.
“Let’s get the good news out of the way,” Ms. Silverman went on before Will could open the note. “Andy’s smart. And now that he’s turning in his work regularly, his grades are good. He’s reading above grade level. And academically, I don’t have many concerns.”
The compliments were nice to hear, but Will knew all that already. As long as he sat at the table with Andy, homework fights were nonexistent. They had set up a system where Will did payroll or bill-pay for the gym while Andy worked, and it had become a nonissue. He craved attention, and now that he was getting some, Andy’s attitude was less off-putting.
“And like I said, his behavior recently compared to just a month ago has been like night and day. I think having consistency and clear expectations at home has helped him settle in. Between his teacher’s comments from last year and what I’ve seen since school started this fall, it appears he hasn’t done this well in a while.”
She continued on, discussing his grades and work. It was all good news, but something in Andy’s teacher’s tone gave Will pause. He glanced at the phone, only to find the screen frozen, like the connection had cut out.
“Aly?” he asked. But the call dropped.
“We lose her?” Ms. Silverman asked.
He nodded and clicked on her contact icon, but the call failed.
“I really wanted to talk to both of you about this, but I guess you’ll have to be the messenger.” She watched Will warily from behind her glasses. “We were talking about Thanksgiving plans, and he mentioned that he didn’t know where he would be. He wasn’t sure whether he’d stay with you once his sister came back for the holidays.” She paused and sighed. “Orwhat would happen after.”
Ms. Silverman’s sentence hung in the air.
Shit. Will had made assumptions, but he hadn’t actually talked to Andy about what would happen next, and the kid hadn’t asked. Will was the silent type, unlike his siblings, and he was still adjusting to being the point person for communication with the boy. He was used to people who put a lot of verbal demands on him. Andy was the opposite of that, which only made clear communication more important.