I cut him off with a smile. He didn’t need to make any excuses. He didn’t owe these people. “He’s going to need his leg to travel before settling down to teach our youngsters.”
“Is that right?” Matt’s eyes widened with a nod. “Good for you.”
“Thanks.” Ryan nodded along with the man, seeing this reason was now perfectly acceptable for all.
“We were class of … a little more than a decade ago. These days, I’m working in business.”
“And you?” I asked Hannah.
“I was in marketing. Copywriting really,” Hannah said, looking up at Matt. “We met in class, though I find the actual work terribly boring now. Figured I would try being a mom for a bit.”
“So, you two are graduating. You’re going to be a teacher,” Matt pointed at Ryan before looking at me. “What are you studying?”
Ryan laughed before I had to piece together an answer, as if he knew I needed time. “She’s taken basically the whole course catalog at this point. All she needs to do is declare.”
“I didn’t know they let you do that so late.”
“I guess since the credits are already taken, it’s just a matter of paperwork,” I offered.
Hannah nodded sympathetically.
“If you ever lean toward the business end of things, you let me know. I have a card here somewhere.” Matt patted his pockets before handing over the small card. “There you are.”
“We’re also in the school directory, I think,” reminded Hannah.
Matt dipped his chin in agreement. “That too.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, we’ll leave you two alone for now. I have one more person I want to see before we take our seats for the main event.”
“Have fun,” said Ryan.
“Well, one of us is going to have more fun than the other,” she said, running a hand over herFuture BU Alumbump once more. “Have a good rest of your homecoming, you two!”
They walked back toward the people they had wandered away from.
Waving goodbye, I twisted back to Ryan in disbelief.
“Were you really about to say you would go back out there and play the game today for those people you don’t even know just like that?”
Ryan, the people pleaser.
With a roll of my eyes, I lifted myself up on my toes so that I could ruffle his hair. He let it happen.
“You really are a mess.”
“They didn’t have to know whether or not I was being honest.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“You think?”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure. “I figure.”
He huffed a laugh as we started to walk back closer to the small stadium. “You think that’ll be us?”
“What?”
