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“That’s very mysterious.”
“Sorry, I promised I wouldn’t tell.”
“Now you’re definitely telling me.”
I never kept secrets from Andie. And I was pretty sure she didn’t have anyone to tell. I lowered my voice even more. “He’s getting a graduate degree, so he’s taking online classes. And I just helped a bit with some data stuff.”
“Sly Remington is in graduate school?” The smile was big enough to worry me.
“It’s a secret,” I reminded her with a finger to my lips.
“Why? Is he afraid it’ll ruin his jock image?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want people to think he’s not fully committed to the team?”
She put a finger to her mouth, considering. “I guess that makes sense...Something weird about it, though. Still, I really care more about your ongoing Yahtzee tournament. There will be more rounds?”
“He asked if he should come over tonight.”
“Oooh.” Andie smiled and a dreamy look passed across her face. “Should we take off?”
“No. You’re having dinner with us! Besides, there’s no Yahtzee until after bedtime.”
“Right.”
“When’s dinner?” Katie called from where she lay on her back in the grass.
“Right now,” I called back. “Come help set the table please.”
We headed in for dinner then, Andie and I doing our best not to discuss dice games too much in front of the kids, and the evening concluding with a long hug on my front steps.
“Thanks for having us,” Andie said. “I’m glad you got the new job. You seem more relaxed. But maybe that’s just all the dice...”
I sighed. I wanted to tell her that the new job was amazing and better than being in the field. But it just wasn’t. “Maybe. It is definitely easier knowing what every day will look like.”
“You don’t sound thrilled.”
“I guess it’s just...less fun than being in the field.”
“Well, it’s only day four. Maybe it gets better.”
“I expect it will. I ordered some new sticky notes that might come in tomorrow.”
“Oooh,” Andie laughed. “Bright colors?”
I nodded, “Of course.”
“Well, I’m sure that’ll fix everything.”
Katie and Stella hugged goodbye and promised to see each other soon, and my daughter and I watched as they headed off into the dim glow of the summer evening.
“Time for bed,” I told Katie, ushering her back inside.
She protested, because that was her job, but soon she was bathed and tucked in, stories had been read, and lights were out. I tried to push down the giddy excitement bubbling in my stomach as I picked up my phone to text Sly.
Me: If you’d still like to pop by, Katie just went to bed.
Sly: Should I wait a bit? Be sure she’s asleep?
