Page 76 of When I Thug You Like That

“Not even if you tried, baby. I can hear the smile all in your voice.”

“Your ability to detect a smile in my voice is so motherly.”

“Mmhm. I can also hear. I’m interested in your tone.”

I laughed because I didn’t need to be standing in front of her to know she was making faces. She’d known about Jay ever since he came in for the tour. During one of our phone calls, I’d told her about my new student and his well-informed dad. He was the parent who’d already done the work instead of expecting the school to do it for him.

Somehow, he’d gone from the parent at the school to the guy who gave me and Taina VIP treatment at the distillery, then back to parent for the first day of school, and now the guy who turned pizza runs into a mini date. The only thing she didn’t know was that this student-parent relationship had gotten a lot less simple.

“He talked his way into pizza with me this past Sunday.”

“Oh?”

That one little word had more behind it.

“Here you go.”

She laughed. “What? All I said was oh.”

“Yeah, and you just sat up in yo’ chair.”

“And did. So, y’all went on a date?”

“No. He invited himself on my pizza run then proceeded to bully me into paying for said pizza. We ended up dining in, he walked me home, we said goodbye.”

“Sounds like the definition of a date to me, baby.”

“Except a date is a planned social or romantic outing. There was no planning and no romance.”

“So, you like him,” she concluded, completely ignoring the definition of date.

“He was good company.” I dodged the question.

“Do you look forward to seeing him? And I’m referring to on and off school grounds.”

I hesitated.

“Jai’ana.”

“Yes, Mother?” I answered sarcastically.

“Does he make you smile, honey?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, he makes me smile a lot.”

“Okay, baby. That’s not a crime.”

“Technically, no. But in my head, I’m still trying to get around the fact that he’s a parent of one of my students.”

“Is it against your school’s policy to date a parent?”

“No.”

“Would you treat his son any different than your other students if you did pursue a relationship with him?”

“Of course not, Ma. You know that.”

“Right. And if I know that, you know it too. I’m not telling you to abandon a boundary that has served you, Jai’ana. What I am saying is circumstances change, and life happens. You’re a young, single woman. Don’t let your job stop you from living. You never know. This guy may just surprise you.”