His chest tightened. He was a real person. He just liked to do things right. He wasn’t great on the fly and kids were the very definition. Weren’t they? He didn’t spend a lot of time around them.
“Dude. Breathe,” Noah said, laughing. He didn’t get it. Noah didn’t have the ability to feel embarrassment. Chris and Wes had seen to that growing up. He grinned, his chest loosening with the memories of how they’d ganged up on their middle brother.
“I got it. I’ll remove the stick.”
Noah laughed, clapped him on the back. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother? Maybe this is Hailey’s influence. You’re sure you’re not into her?”
He was into her—just not in the way Noah was suggesting. He was excited to see her tonight, to hear her funny stories about customers. He wanted to know more about her book club idea and since he suspected she was a closet reading fanatic, he wanted to ask her about some of his favorites, see if they had any in common.
Though he wouldn’t admit it to his brother—ever—he’d sketched a few funny drawings for their “guide.” He knew she’d get a kick out of it. He knew he’d notice if her hair smelled like strawberries and the way her eyes crinkled in the corners when she laughed, but having pre-set the boundaries made this easier. Didn’t matter if he was into her. They were friends. He could look forward to being with her, being himself, and not messing it up.
“Earth to Wes.” Noah nudged his shoulder.
“She’s fantastic. But honestly, it’s nice to have a friend of my own, one that didn’t come to me through you and Chris. Despite being the oldest, I never realized how infrequently I formed my own circles. I always had you guys, and Ari. I never actively looked for friends because we never needed to. Sometimes I felt like we were always surrounded by people. Hailey’s different. I like her a lot. I don’t want to wreck that with even the possibility of a relationship or even sex. I’d hate to lose what we’re building.”
Noah leaned against the table. “What if it was more than sex?”
Wes thought about that, seriously considered it as he had many times already, and realized there was another perk to this friendship. “It can’t be. Hailey is rebuilding her life and her business. She’s chasing and fulfilling her own dreams. She doesn’t need a lover.” His throat went dry at the thought of her with another man. He cleared his throat. “What I mean is, I think we both need this friendship. We like each other but we’re not long-term compatible, even if either of us was looking for that. The best part is, we already know it.” His brother would mock the guide for sure. “We want the same thing.”
“Sometimes we don’t know who we are until we find the right person. The one that helps us see ourselves in a way we never did before.”
Wes stopped what he was doing, walked closer to his brother. This was important. “You have no idea, given the frame of reference we have for happy relationships, how much it matters to me that you’ve found Grace. That Chris has Everly. But that’s not what I want. I like Hailey. She’s my friend. Do me a favor and tone down the joking and shit when she’s around. I feel like she could be in our lives for a long time.” Something he couldn’t remember thinking about any other woman he’d known.
Noah studied him for a minute. Wes nearly broke eye contact but finally his brother spoke. “As opposed to whatever woman you happen to date next? You’re so sure that’ll have an expiry date?”
“As sure as you are of Grace.”
The look of disappointment and sadness in Noah’s expression was too much for Wes. His brother didn’t get it. He should be rejoicing for Wes.
* * *
Wes expected to find teaching the concepts easy. He knew he’d be able to break down the components of coding for the novice learner. He was prepared to ask questions and engage in conversation.
What he didn’t expect was how the enthusiasm of the students would transfer. For sixty minutes, he was immersed in language he loved: app development, pair programming, source codes. These kids knew a lot more than he’d assumed. A couple of them were complete novices but the more advanced learners were able to show what they knew by helping them out.
“Can we make an actual video game?” Dimitri asked.
Wes felt like he’d downed a Red Bull. “Absolutely. I think each of you should decide on a goal, whether you want to create an app, get better at the language, map out a game, whatever you want, and then we can do some whole-group learning at the beginning of each class and break off into smaller groups after.”
“Have you ever made any apps?” one of the older teens, Joelle, asked.
“Several, actually.” The income from those and some other software he’d developed had given him the financial padding to take a step away from his father.
“Can we look them up?”
He wrote some of them on the whiteboard, thinking about the one he’d created for Chris’s girlfriend. A misunderstanding had landed Everly in a radio-station-hosted, Bachelorette-style dating pool. Wes had created EverLove, an app to help her narrow down prospective suitors. In the end, it’d been a moot point since she and his brother had fallen for each other during that time.
The kids were great about shutting down and storing the computers. When they left, he wheeled the cart out to the front cart to leave it with Leo. The older teen was on the phone when he approached.
He saw Wes and held up a finger before turning to face the wall. “I need that shift. Yeah, I get it. Okay. If anyone else calls in sick, you can put me on the list.”
He hung up, shoulders slumped. When he turned back around, Wes saw him try to shake it off. “Everything go okay?”
“Absolutely. The kids were great. I’m looking forward to next week.”
“Cool. Here, I’ll grab those.” Coming around the counter, he grabbed the cart, wheeled it into the office Noah had come out of earlier.
“You work here a lot?” Wes asked, pulling his keys from his pocket.
“This isn’t my job. I volunteer one night a week here. Sometimes more if there are special events. It’s part of a program called Give Back. I get to drop in whenever I want without paying.”
Wes nodded, not sure how to broach the topic. “You go to school?”
The kid swiped a dark lock of hair out of his eyes, his gaze shifting. “Graduated last year. I’m working right now. I’m taking a year before I go to college.” Whatever he was thinking about made him frown deeper.
“What’s your other job?”
“What’s yours? Other than questioning me?”
Damn. He needed to learn. Biting back his smile, Wes held up his hands, the keys jingling. “Sorry. I overstepped. I do that. I try to step in and solve problems.”
The kid’s lips twitched. “Knowing you have an issue is said to be the first step.”
Wes nodded. “I’ve heard that too.” He turned to leave.
“Hey,” Leo called out.
Wes turned back.
“How would you solve my problem if, say, I wasn’t getting enough shifts at my current job?”
Wes shrugged, hoping he wasn’t about to risk the new friendship he was so happy with. Couldn’t hurt to ask, right? “I have a friend who’s looking for someone to do some deliveries. Maybe. She’s just starting her business and the hours aren’t static.”
The way he leaned forward a little, how his eyes came back to Wes suggested interest. “I have a car. It breaks down more than it runs but I’ve been fixing it up.”
He almost asked why his parents didn’t help him with that—two doctors? If Noah was right about that, why was this kid struggling with small things like a reliable vehicle? Noah’s words about prejudging, thinking he knew, came back to Wes. He didn’t know anyone else’s true story.
“Would it be okay if I mentioned you to her? I’m not sure what she’d be able to pay or what the hours would be like but it could be mutually beneficial.”
He hoped like hell Hailey wasn’t mad at him but how could he not act when he was right? It would be mutually beneficial. Wes couldn’t help himself. He’d done thousand-piece puzzles on his own at age five. He was a born and bred problem solver.
He’d tell her why he suggested it—she might have too if she met Leo—and leave it in her court. She was getting busier every day and if she didn’t get mad at his overstepping, she’d see this could really push her to the next level. Wes had run the numbers on her website and she was getting frequent visitors. It would increase if she could offer delivery, even part-time.
“Sure. That’d be okay. I’ll talk to you next week?” The tiny touch of hope, the faint glimmer in his tone, was enough to have Wes smiling.