" All right, Rachael," said Greg. "Allison and I are going to head out now. We just wanted to wait to make sure the kids got home safely. There's a hu...dred dollars on the dining room table for emergencies, and you're welcome to use some of it if you want to take the kids out to eat or to see a movie. I told them you would be happy to join them in whatever activities they want to do, but they're to remember that you're in charge here. Lissa needs to be at her friend's house by seven tonight, so. Did I like it? I didn’t hate it. He thanked me, nodded to Tom, then left. I asked Tom what that was all about. “I wanted you to broaden your experience; see how it is to be a girl for a room full of men. How does it feel?” “Really strange, but nice. I like the attention, the feeling of empowerment, of being a sex object, of being flirted with. I never got any of that from women.” “Men seldom do, unless they are either drop-dead handsome, rich, or famous. Of course, women will all say that. While they still talked on the phone every day, they weren’t able to see each other quite as often as either would like. Disruptive students and conferences with parents had been the major dent in her rather predictable schedule. Gabe laughed when she called him one night and left a voicemail, she sounded stressed out and so cute over an incident involving a couple of her students. He would have given anything to have been there for her but was stuck in a screening room with Tony locking in a. His father had served in the Vietnam War with him and they were as close as brothers. When the final car left and he had the house to himself, he pulled his father’s truck out of the garage and took a drive around the farm. His father did this each night as a way to get a feel for how the farm breathed. He had long believed that this land was like a living creature, and if you listened just right, she’d tell you a lot. So it was only right that he continue that tradition. Harold had been doing.