As the snoring students said, “STFU!”We finally got to the student recognition part and Sarah Lynn stood at the podium and attached her smartphone...to the projector. The first slide was a picture of a bunch of us in first grade. We were all lined up in front of the school sign with our mothers hovering over us.“Remember this? When we were all young and innocent and ready to take on the world? Well, most of us made it through twelve years of school. We’re sitting here ready to receive our. And I need to talk to Ms. Brock this afternoon about all the Concepts classes I’ve missed. She was a little sarcastic Monday about how pleased she was to see me in class.”“And I have to visit the Rosewood store this morning,” Lissa said. “We’re looking at a new line and I want to go over how the merchandise will fit into our display space.”“Fun! I want to do that,” Melody said. She leaned in to kiss each of us. “Do I smell bacon?”“Mmm. Your mother, unless the boys are cooking,” I said. “She. She gave William a break and let him eat his meal. Actually, she had to give him a break, or she wouldn’t have been able to eat her meal, either. ‘Why did you do that?’ Arlene asked as they ate the delicious food. ‘I don’t know, exactly,’ William said. ‘Like they say, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was wild, wasn’t it?’ ‘It was intense,’ Arlene said. ‘Probably the danger of discovery helped make it more exciting.’ ‘Probably,’ William said. ‘After we finish, what would you think. ’ She nodded, almost as if she was just going on automatic. ‘I’ll get my coat.’ ********** We were sitting in The Silver Diner. The ever-mindful Christine had cleared our empty plates away a little while ago. Both Jess and I were looking out the window but neither of us was seeing what was going on out there. Our minds were miles away, thinking about anything and everything. I was trying to think of a way to bring up her increasing distance from me without actually mentioning it. I could see.