“We shouldn’t have stopped at the station.” Rhett’s knuckles gripped the steering wheel so tightly they blanched white.

I noticed his hands, my eyes widening. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” he shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s talk about you. When are you going to make another video?”

“Really?” I said. “Really??” Anger rose in my chest.

“Really what?” he scowled.

“You’re going to start in on me because you don’t want to talk about what’s bothering you? Sorry, dude, I’m not up for that.”

Rhett heaved a sigh out of my chest and stared at the road. He ground his jaw and said nothing.

“What happened back there? You can’t be this upset because I was playing cards with your buddies, right?” I pulled Tiger closer to my lap, holding him steady while the truck rumbled down the road.

He shook his head. “No, that’s cool, though didn’t you tell me you’re kind of a hustler? I’m not sure I should let a wolf in sheep’s clothing take them for everything they have.”

“I think they’ll be fine but we can talk about that later,” I said, folding my arms. “I won’t let you side track me. What happened with the chief?”

Rhett scowled and then shook his head. “The test I need to pass for the promotion? Now it’s a requirement for keeping my job.”

“Oh, that sucks.” Oscar kept his hand on Tiger and looked out the window. “But…you could…I don’t know. Study and pass the test? How hard could it be?”

Rhett glared at me with irritation in his eyes. “Hard enough,” he growled. “I’ve never been good at school.”

“I saw your graduation picture, so at least you finished?”

“Yes, because only geniuses graduate from public high school,” he scoffed.

“In private school, you just need to donate money and they will graduate your kid,” I unhelpfully pointed out. I winced inside at my stupid mouth running away with me.

Rhett shook his head to shake the confusion away. “I’m not sure how that is relevant, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

I laughed out loud, at my dumb comment and his response. It was just one sharp laugh, and then I covered my mouth with my hand. “I’m sorry, the absurdity of this exchange just hit me.”

“I’m going to lose my job,” Rhett said. “I’m glad this is funny.” He sounded so resigned. Like it was a foregone conclusion.

“What?” I practically shrieked. “I’ll help you. I don’t believe you can’t pass this test.”

“I don’t believe you can’t make a video and put it online so you can pay your bills.”

Ouch. I settled back in my seat and frowned.

“There’s more,” Rhett said. “I have to come up with something to do for community involvement.”

I decided to put my reaction to his personal jab aside and focus on him. For now. “You mean like community service?”

Rhett made a face. “Like not as a punishment, like picking up trash. Though I could pick up trash. It’s part of the push to have an educated fire force, and to improve community relations.”

“Do community relations need improving?” I didn’t know. I stopped reading the news a long time ago.

Rhett shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe? Just, it’s not that they are bad. It’s that we’re supposed to always make them better. It’s like a fireman thing.”

“Okay,” I said. I rubbed my temples with my fingers. “It’s been a long day, and Tiger isn’t the only one who has talked to enough people today. But, I can help you pass the test,” I said. “I know I can.”

“How’s that? Are you going to stand by my desk and tell me the answers?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, I can help you get ready. I went to the stuffiest schools in the world. I’m not sure I learned much, but I did learn how to acquire information and regurgitate it for tests.”

“Appetizing,” Rhett said.

“Yep! Tastes like employment!” I said, rubbing my stomach. “Come on, let me help you.”

Rhett scowled. “I don’t think you understand. When I read the words get jumbled together and it’s hard for me to focus for a long time. I get headaches.”

Realization hit me, but I wasn’t a professional so I needed to tread carefully. “I had a friend who had that problem, and he found ways to help. Maybe they will help you too?”

“Like what?” he glanced at me suspiciously.

“Like, making sure everything was in a font that wasn’t confusing, and reprinting everything so it didn’t have weird spaces between the words.”

Rhett frowned. “I do that on my phone with texting and stuff. So it might help. But it might not. Don’t get too excited.”

“I promise not to get my hopes up, if you promise to let me try to help you.”

“Argh. Fine.” Rhett huffed. Then he thought and then added, “I’ll do that if you make another video for your channel.”

I folded my arms. “Seriously, that’s blackmail!”

“I don’t think that’s what blackmail means,” Rhett drawled, finally smiling. Why did I let this guy lead me to believe he wasn’t smart? Underestimating people is a dangerous habit. “It’s perfectly fair. You want me to do something I can’t do. I’m just asking you to do something you don’t want to do.”

The truck pulled into the driveway, and we idled for a moment. “You don’t have to want to take a test to pass a test. You do have to want to make a video in order for it to come across in a positive way,” I pointed out.

“Maybe,” Rhett said. “But people can act enthusiastic about things they  would rather not do all the time. It’s called acting. It’s called life.”

“Let’s give Tiger a break and let him visit his cave.”

“He’s not the only one who needs a cave,” Rhett said, turning off the ignition and staring straight ahead.

I ignored that comment. “When is the test? How long do you have?”

“It’s in a few days.”

“Seriously?! They just dropped this on you today and it’s in a few days?”

Rhett sighed and rubbed his eyes. “No, I just haven’t been dealing with it because I knew I’d fail, so what was the point? It didn’t used to be mandatory.”

I gathered Tiger up in my arms and climbed out of the truck. Rhett sat in the driver’s seat, not moving. I walked around the truck, opened the door and held out my free hand. “Come on. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Rhett jerked out of his trance and stared at me. I waited, expecting him to tell me to fuck off or I didn’t know what. Instead he nodded, took my hand, and climbed out of the truck.

“Let’s go to your place so Tiger has his bed,” I said.

Rhett nodded mutely, and held onto my hand. We walked wordlessly, our shoes crunching on the gravel driveway. I slid my fingers between his, and we interlaced our fingers.

I looked over at him and smiled, and squeezed his hand. “We’ll figure it out,” I said.

He squeezed back.

I didn’t want to let go of Rhett’s hand, but I had to put Tiger down on the grass. For just a moment, I had to trust that I would hold his hand again, even if I let go right now.

Rhett unlocked the door and we went inside. He put fresh water in Tiger’s bowl and measured out his food. The folder was still on the counter. I took it and sat on the couch, flipping through the pages.

The thing is, and I knew this from looking at this stuff before, this wasn’t just information for one test. It was also about continuing education. A lot of it.

One thing at a time. One test at a time.

Rhett came and sat next to me. His hips touched my hips, his leg touched my leg, his shoulder touched my shoulder. He put his arm around me, and we sat in silence. The only sound was Tiger’s collar tags clinking on his food bowls, and him munching on his food and slurping his water.

We sat, just like that, for a long time. Eventually our breathing synced, the heat between our bodies equalized, pressing through our clothes at our points of contact.

“We don’t have to do this tonight,” I offered. The file folder sat on my side, waiting.

“No, I’m ready. I just needed to sit for a moment,” Rhett said. “Let’s do this.”

As soon as we started into the material, I realized my suspicions were probably correct. When I read to Rhett, he did much better, but if he had to read, especially weird fonts or full justified materials, he struggled. I’d seen this before. I just had to get the courage to push a little further.

We made a lot of progress, but soon Rhett needed a break. “I don’t know why you don’t think you’re smart. You have an incredible memory!” I said, reorganizing all the papers back in the folder.

“Yeah, I just suck at reading, right?” Rhett said, running his hand along his forehead and over his hair.

“Remember I said I had a friend in middle school who was the same way,” I started. I didn’t want to overstep but I wanted to help.

“Yeah? So what does that mean?” Rhett said.

“Well, his parents took him somewhere and they diagnosed him as dyslexic. Have you ever been evaluated or anything?” My heart pounded. “I don’t want you to hate me, and I know some people are really against ‘labels,’ but it really helped him. Maybe it could help you too?”

Rhett frowned, his hands balled together close on his lap. “Even if it were true how could that help me?” he said, his voice quiet and sad. “Having a word to describe that I suck at reading isn’t going to make me magically good at reading.”

I took a breath and decided I was all in with this, now that I’d started. “So you’ve never been evaluated? Maybe that’s the first step. Then they can help you learn ways to specifically help you.”

Rhett leaned back and pushed his legs out straight in front of him, feet together. He stared at his toes and clacked his shoes together. He looked so unhappy. My heart hurt for him, but I wanted to help him so badly. “I need to tell you about me.”

I waited, saying nothing. I knew he was adopted, but not much else.

“I never tell this story,” Rhett said. He looked up at the ceiling and then looked at me quickly before he looked away.

I nodded. “I’m listening.”