Even teacher retention had gone up.Which made the budget paperwork that much easier. 3% raises across the board and 30 hours of training. The teachers...deserved bigger raises but the school board had set the level and refused to update it.Janet sighed deeply. She took a sip of coffee and started her paperwork.It was a cool March day, and the wind occasionally whipped leaves past her window. Janet had two windows, actually — one overlooked the soccer and football fields and the other was interior. Earl had a fairly new Lincoln, so he was driving in style. The girls were sure to make a deal with one of the luxury car dealers in town pretty soon, and we would be in a Mercedes or BMW one of these days. If not, the Jeep was fine with me.The Vinoy is really high class with a Maitre d' in a tux. I'd hate that job. The girls had brought me a sport coat so I looked decent alongside them in their nice dresses. Earl had a sport coat over a knit shirt, the same as me.When we were all seated, I. Thanking him very much, my mind was racing, and not in the direction everyone thought. Going home the only thing I could think of was Serena, what I would do without her, if I should accept the promotion. At home, there was still no sign of her, but it was past eleven in the evening, so I went to sleep. The next morning as I woke up I found it strange to be still alone, the house was empty and no sign of what had been filling my weekend days in the past year. I couldn't resist anymore, after a. LOL about taking care of Dria. He mentioned not letting her mom poison our relationship in her eyes no one is good for Dria. He said Dria is happy I spoke to her and boy she loves u. Marry her do right by her and take care of your family. I replied I will, it was strange hearing it from someone else. I love Dria shes my only k** one day you and I will sit and share secrets over a bottle and he smiled. I said Im sure my stories are more than you can handle. He said so how old do you think I am?.