On Monday he wasn’t surprised when he saw Simon, the guy that Maya had wanted to hire against his advice. He didn’t understand why she wanted to h...re him, he was like plain tofu in every respect, boring and uninspired. She had given him the cubicle that backed onto Graham’s, probably because Graham’s work was the stuff that needed the most correcting. That morning she called him and asked him to come to her office. He didn’t know what it was about and he wasn’t sure how he should act. Should he. “Butler, Keri” she ran to me giving me a big hug.“Case, Tiffany” she took the check and gave me a kiss on the mouth. She gave Jenn a high five while I checked my lips for blood.“Chapman, Isabel” with the precedent just set I was worried. She came up and said, “My parents left me and Peter a lot of money. I would rather let you spend my money as you see fit Mr. Thomas.”Walking before I called his name, Peter said pretty much the same thing, but added, “I have only one person to spend money on.. "Christmas vacation just ended. I haven't been back in school three minutes yet. There can't be bad news." Winter break," Robbie corrected. Tami and I had driven her to school. Her little Honda, Rodrigo, was getting a tune up.Ricky just smiled."Okay, I'll play," I said reluctantly. "What's the good news?" Schedule's out for baseball," Ricky said holding up a piece of paper."And the bad?" Robbie prompted."Schedule's out for baseball." He handed the paper to me.I looked down at it, Tami and. "I hurried from the room, even adding a wiggle to my walk to keep themhappy. It was all so demeaning. When I returned they were on theliving room sofa, close together. I held the beer out to Rod and hesnatched it from my much smaller hand. Effortlessly twisting off thecap, he took a long swallow, exhaled appreciatively, and set the bottledown on the end table by his side. Claire snuggled up against him."So," he wanted to know. "Did you read your pansy husband the rules?" Sure did," she.