“I teach Tessa’s feature writing class.”
“Oh, that’s excellent,” my mother said. “I was so excited when Tessa told me she was going to take some journalism courses. I considered majoring in journalism when I was in college.”
“You did?” I said. She had never mentioned that.
She ignored me. “But then I found out I was pregnant with Tessa, so I dropped out, with the full intention of returning to finish my degree once she was in school. But . . . I never got around to it.”
Leo smiled. “It’s never too late.”
My mother laughed, loudly, and patted his forearm. “Oh, would you listen to him!” she said. “That’s kind of you. But I think I’m probably past my prime when it comes to going out and finding a story.”
“Never too old for that sort of thing,” Leo said. His knee rubbed against mine.
“So how long have you been teaching for?” my mother asked.
“This is my second year. Teaching was not what I originally planned to do. Though I must say,” I could feel his eyes on me, “it’s worked out better than I thought. A rather pleasant surprise, you might say.”
“I bet it must be so rewarding.”
“Oh, it is. In ways you might not expect.”
“That’s something I also thought about. I always thought it would be such a great way to give back—being a teacher. Getting to influence and affect the way that young people see the world. Inspiring them. It must be so gratifying.”
He nodded, and then gave me a pointed look. “You could say that again.”
I had to take a sip of my water to keep from laughing, and hopefully to hide the fact that I was also blushing. Not that I should have been worried about that though, because it would seem that my mother only had eyes for him.
He pushed back from the chair. “I better get going,” he said. “Not that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend some time with the two of you. Quite unexpected!”
My mother beamed. “It was! But lovely nonetheless. So great to have finally had the chance to meet you. Maybe we’ll be able to do this again sometime.”
“I would like that,” Leo said. He smiled once more at my mother, then looked at me, still with the smile on his face, a laugh in his eyes. I had to bite down on my own lip to keep from laughing. This whole situation was excruciating. In a good way, but still excruciating. “I’ll see you in class, Tessa,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “Bye.”
We both watched him walk off.
“He was so nice!” Mom said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention him before, though.”
“That’s probably because I haven’t.”
“Well, that was really quite kind of him to join us. He’s so . . .” She leaned forward. “Handsome. I just wasn’t expecting a teacher of yours to be handsome like that. Don’t tell your father!”
“Um, don’t worry, I definitely won’t.”
“Not that it would matter,” she said.
“What?”
She waved me off. “Oh, nothing.” But then she rubbed her palms together, looked the direction that Leo had walked off into, and then leaned toward me. “You know, my relationship with your father is still very strong, even after all these years.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, not entirely following why it was she was telling me this. “I wasn’t doubting that.”
“I know. But . . . when you’re married to someone for as long as your father and I have been together, the relationship can be strong, as strong as it’s ever been, but sometimes there are certain things that . . . that fall to the wayside, I guess.”
I nodded, still not sure what she was getting at. Did she think I was suddenly doubting the validity of their relationship just because she thought that Leo was attractive?
“I might as well tell you. Without getting into all the details, of course. Your father’s not so interested in the physical aspect of our marriage anymore,” my mother said.