Come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever. You can stay at my place and you don’t have to see Shannon. Let me know when you want to come, and I’ll order a ticket for you, but I can’t talk about this shit over email anymore. Meet her and you’ll get it. You’ll love her. Come home. Even for a few days.
M
From: Erin Walsh
To: Matthew Walsh
Date: November 20 at 20:02 CEST
Subject: RE: Italy
M–
Will I love her as much as you do?
–e
From: Matthew Walsh
To: Erin Walsh
Date: November 21 at 05:49 EDT
Subject: RE: Italy
I hope so.
Chapter Twenty-Five
LAUREN
With only ninemonths until the doors of my school opened, I was rounding the curve and finally seeing the end of this marathon. As the first day neared, my confidence grew. I understood the role I’d fill when it was time for teaching and learning, and I loved everything about it. I needed kids and classrooms, and the craziness of running the building was nothing compared to chasing down vendors, board members, state officials, and researchers. The preparation, the non-kid, non-classroom stuff I could do without.
Lifting my head from my hands, I groaned at the forty-four emails suddenly clogging my inbox, and that groan stretched into a full-blown whine when my phone started vibrating with an incoming call. My number one draft pick teacher declined my offer earlier in the day, and as if the phone were to blame for that turn of events, I wasn’t taking any calls until this day perked up.
The call went to voicemail, but another quickly followed. Peeking an eye open, I saw my father’s picture flashing across the screen. Two options sat before me: answer, or expect a member of the armed forces to come find me.
I really did not want a SEAL fast-roping down the exterior of my building right now.
“Hi, Dad.”
“There’s my girl!” he boomed.
“So where are you today?” I was several weeks behind in my travel blog readings.
“Outside Rosarito, but that’s not the purpose of this call,” he said. “I heard from one of my sailors last week, Paraza. He’s in private contracting now, and doing well for himself. He asked about you, and I updated him on the progress of your endeavor, and he wants to provide funding for your operation. He’ll have someone in his office call you to establish the agreement.”
“Wow, Dad, that’s wonderful. I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to say. Teach those kids, put them on the right path; that’s all you can do,” he said. “Is the work going well? You’re staying focused on the targets?”
I laughed. “Yeah, as much as possible. Some of these days are challenging, though, and it’s hard—”
“Only easy day was yesterday, Lolo. Remember that.”
“I know, and I do. That doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating when I spend three months cultivating a candidate and she backs out at the last minute.”
“Give in, give up, or—”
