If it wasn’t for the teacher’s impatient clearing of the throat, David might even have returned her smile and wave.The lunch bell came with a seco...d stabbing. David lurched upwards.“C’mon, Grab your keys. Shannon says that Leanne’s stalking around our hangout and you need coffee anyway.”“What?” David slid his textbook into his backpack. “Yeah, OK. But--”Truth was he had only parsed the name Leanne as his brain caught up. How were Shannon and Kristi so up, so competent, so functional? David. I wondered why she was dressed like she was in Boston and had stepped out of line from an Irish marching band. She had red hair and freckles and chatted with two other girls. She seemed more sober than her friends.“Look at the legs on that one,” Jason said.Jason had no tact whatsoever. They probably heard him. But I was surprised someone else cared about legs as much as I did.“Yeah,” I responded. “They’re really something.”In a moment of utter cockiness, I called to the girl in the flannel. ." she said as she struggled past me carrying the diaper bag, thechild carrier and trying to herd the boy ahead of her."Here, let me help." I gently took the diaper bag from her hand andhoisted the boy up so quickly that he giggled. "My name is Roger," I saidto her."Melanie," she said with a smile. "I'd like to thank you for not gettingtoo mad at them."I smiled and gave her a nod, "I guess kids take some getting use to, butbelieve me, I understand." I'll say," she said as she sat the carrier. "Man, you guys will wear anything, won't you?" she said, still cracking up. Ryan just stood there shivering, trying to find a place to hide his hands from the wind. "Oh, are you cold, poor girl? You know, I've always wanted to do this to a man every since I saw it on 'Bachelorettes in Alaska.' Put a man in a wedding gown and have him stand out in the freezing cold, waiting to be proposed to." "Will you please just get on with what you've come here to say, Trista," he said, trying not to lose.