Adela's Class
Copyright © 2026 by OmegaPet-58
Chapter 6: The Deep End of the Carpool
ADELA
My rides back and forth with Paolo were the best parts of my three teaching days each week. The only problem was that my house and the classroom were only fifteen minutes apart. Fifteen minutes simply wasn’t enough. He was a careful driver; our conversations were sometimes interrupted by the negligent drivers around us.
A few times, a particularly foolish driver forced him to take quick action and avoid an accident. The result? Instead of me teaching English to Paolo, he was teaching me a variety of colorful and highly abusive Spanish phrases. Afterwards, when he stopped and began to cool off, he noticed me laughing.
“I’m so sorry, Adela, my mother would wash my mouth out for speaking this way in front of a lady.”
Still laughing, I told him, “Please, don’t worry about it. I really liked the donkey one.”
Another time, a car rolled straight out of a driveway right in front of us. He quickly slammed on the brakes while throwing his arm out across my chest. While he was cursing, I tried to get his attention.
“Paolo? Paolo? It’s over now, you can take your arm off my boobs.”
I’ve never seen a man’s face get so red so quickly. If I hadn’t interrupted him, we’d probably still be sitting there in the middle of the street.
“I know you’re sorry. But let’s get moving, shall we?”
When we arrived at class, he got out and circled the truck like always to help me down from the high seat. So polite! He started to apologize again but I put my finger over his lips.
“Please stop apologizing. I enjoyed the feeling.” I smiled. “You can put your arm there anytime.”
There was the redness coming back, so I pecked him and walked directly into the building.
In the truck on the way to my home, I decided to bring up something that was bothering me.
“Paolo, I’m very grateful that you’re carpooling with me and doing all the driving. But I want to have longer and deeper talks with you. Saturday, I’d like to have a picnic with you, along with Julie and David. Does Julie play any sports?”
“She plays basketball.”
“Perfect. We’ll go to Leveroni Park. There are like ten courts there, and I’m sure one will be free. You and I can be talking while ‘the kids’ play, just like at the playground when they were small. Except they won’t be crying, ‘Watch me!’ every couple of minutes. Ask Julie to bring her basketball. What do you think?”
“Julie and I would love to have a picnic with you and David. I have a cooler so let me bring the drinks. I have to warn you, though.”
“Oh, really? What’s wrong, Paolo?”
“The more time I spend with you, the more often I’m going to want to kiss you—even in a public park.”
We’d just pulled up in front of my house. Before I could undo my belt, he leaned over abruptly and gave me a wonderful kiss.
“Wow! I ... You ... Paolo, you should do that every time you drop me here.”
“David might see.”
“Do you think I care? How about one more?”
PAOLO
When Julie and I showed up in my truck to pick up Adela and David, we walked to the door to help carry out the food. When the four of us were ready to leave for the park, David stopped short. I should explain, my pickup truck was the original design without a second set of doors and back seat. It also didn’t have any space behind the front seat to sit.
Adela would sit next to me in the middle of the front seat, and David would sit against the far door, with Julie in his lap. All three of us could see the gear-grinding and sparks in his head when he realized the gorgeous Julie would be perched on his thighs.
Adela chuckled at her son’s behavior. “Don’t think that you can sit on my lap, David. You can endure having Julie sit on you for the fifteen minutes we’ll be driving.” I had an inkling what David was actually worrying about, but I wasn’t going to say anything to them, in either language. Come to think of it, I didn’t actually know the English words for David’s potential problem.
I helped Adela into the seat, this time from the driver’s side, and helped her to fasten the middle-seat belt. Coolly, Julie wrapped the belt around the two of them to leave them secure, and we were off.
At the park Adela was right, there were available courts for the basketball game. We found one with a nearby picnic table and put out our food on it.
Julie surprised me, she said, “OK, David, are you ready to play house?”
“What? He’s moving in? Or you’re moving in with David?” I couldn’t believe it.
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