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“Good. I’m sure he could use the work, being new and all.” She picked up a piece of pizza. “I can’t believe Paul is such a…”
“Asshole?”
“That was like fifteen years ago.”
Milo shrugged. “Like I said, an asshole.”
“I dated him back then. What does that make me?”
“Hmm. Confused?” He took a sip of beer.
“Good thing my best friend set me straight.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome. Still paying for it, though.” Milo took a bite of the pizza. “I really hope I can get through to Caleb.”
“I have faith, Milo. You will.”
“I don’t know. He’s got a mom and uncle who love him to pieces. I'm not sure what I can do to top that.”
“Do you want my take on the situation?”
“Always.”
“Caleb is comfortable at home. He’s been sheltered and spends all his time with Wilda and his uncle. He hasn’t needed to confront the world since retreating into silence. No one has really pushed him to come out of it.”
“I’m not going to push either.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. You and the kids in your class will gently help him come out of it. Out of necessity, if nothing else. He’ll want to join the other kids, and he’ll need to start talking to do that fully.”
“Hmm. I hope you’re right. The other scenario is that he recedes further into his silent world.”
“No. He’s not going to do that.”
“I hope you’re right.”
She smiled. “Don’t you know by now? I’m always right, Milo.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. Except for that one tiny misstep a couple of years ago. The ‘let’s sleep together and take our friendship to the next level’ experiment.”
Rachel laughed. “It almost worked. We made it a year.”
“We’re lucky we’re still friends.”
“The sex was good.”
“Yeah. But the rest of the time, we drove each other crazy.”
She smiled. “The sex was really good.”
“Rachel.”
“Sorry. Haven’t you ever thought about…”
“No.”
She pointed at him. “You’re a liar.”
“Fine. Once or twice. But it’s not worth risking our friendship again. I’m not sure we would come out friends a second time around.”
