“Endangered species?”Cassidy asked.
“Yes.But also species whose populations are just cut off from one another or isolated by man’s activities and can’t genetically mingle on their own.”
Gray and Cassidy traded smiles.
“What about you two?”Gray asked the kids.“What do you think you might want to do when you grow up?”
Noah didn't hesitate.“Be an astronaut.Or a chef.Or a marine biologist.Or all three.”
“Ambitious,” Gray responded.“You'd need physics, culinary school, and a marine science degree.Doable if you start early.”
“I'm only seven,” Noah pointed out.
“Good point.You have enough time to do all three.”He turned to Cassidy.“How about you?”
“I don't know yet.Something where I solve problems.Real problems, not made-up ones.”A pause.“My teacher gives us logic puzzles, and I finish them super fast.Then I have to wait for everyone else.It's boring.”
“Have you tried making your own?”Gray asked.
Cassidy looked at him blankly.“What do you mean?”
“Solving a puzzle is one skill.Building one is another.It’s harder because you have to know all the possible solutions and design to account for all of them.If your teacher’s logic puzzles are too easy, try making one of your own.See if you can stump your teacher.”
Cassidy went still, her eyes alight with interest.She reached for her notebook and started writing.
Bonnie watched her daughter's face while she worked.Cassidy looked as if she’d just been handed the key to a lock she didn't know she had inside her.
“What's your favorite book?”Noah asked Gray.“What are you reading currently?”
“Currently I'm reading about fire behavior in different shapes of structures, which is really cool if you're me and boring if you're most other people.”He considered.“My favorite fiction book isLonesome Dove.”
“I've readLonesome Dove,” Cassidy said.
Bonnie stared at her daughter, stunned.“Lonesome Dove?When?Isn’t it, like 900 pages long?”
“At Christmas.Grandpa had it on his shelf.Yes, it's very long but it didn't feel long to read.”She looked at Gray.“I cried at the end.”
“Most people do,” Gray said gravely.
“Don't tell me how it ends,” Noah said immediately, covering his ears.“I'm going to read it when I'm old enough.”
“We won't tell,” Cassidy said.
Gray nodded in agreement.
Noah uncovered his ears.“Mom cries at commercials.Especially the ones with dogs that need rescuing.”
“Noah,” Bonnie said warningly.
“Those commercials are really sad.Anyone with a good heart is likely to cry watching them,” Gray commented.His eyes met Bonnie's over Noah's head with silent warmth.She looked away first.
She gathered the lunch wrappers with more focus than the task required.Outside, the sun struggled against a lead gray sky that hadn't fully committed to spring yet.
Noah moved on to a question about whether a shark could be crossed with a blue whale to get a giant shark-o-whale-osaur.Gray launched into an explanation of how whales and sharks didn’t have the same number of genes because sharks were fish and whales were mammals, which made them even more incompatible for cross-breeding.
Bonnie noticed that Gray was watching her tidy her desk while he bagged the empty milkshake cups and answered Noah’s questions.He saw everything around him, filed it away, and said nothing about most of it.It occurred to her to wonder when and where he’d learned to do that.
“Are we still on for Tuesday?”he asked, taking the paper bag of trash from her.
