Page 7 of Well Aware

I nodded. “I’m here for a job interview.”

Saying it was a job interview instead of a possible professional soccer tryout was easier.

Saying the latter always invited more questions, and sometimes I just wanted to not talk about that part of my life.

I was proud of becoming a professional soccer player. However, I didn’t make it my whole identity.

Plus, I had a single season left in me.

I’d officially graduated college as a nurse anesthetist, and I was excited to start a new career path.

Not that I didn’t love soccer with my whole heart and soul, but soccer was a young woman’s game now.

As a thirty-two-year-old woman, I couldn’t keep up with sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds anymore.

Not even my infinite wisdom and soccer know-how could out-top a seventeen-year-old’s superior energy and drive.

“For what?”

Before I could answer, the older sheriff stepped out and said, “Court’s gonna get working on it.”

He made some face at me, then at the man I’d been talking to the entire time.

“Did he say about how long?” I asked.

I’d need to find a way to rent a car if it was going to take any longer than a couple of hours.

I could waste some time in town, but I couldn’t leave Iris for too long.

Not that Merrill wouldn’t be able to take superior care of Iris, but Iris had a routine, and it was better not to deviate from it too much.

Having a kid with autism was hard. But routines made it easier.

Plus, Merrill didn’t know enough sign language to understand everything that Iris had to say, which was the only way that Iris communicated.

She was learning, but slowly.

“Can I offer you a ride to Hopps? Or The Mercantile for lunch?”

Sheriff Black, as his nametag noted him as, slapped my rescuer on the shoulder and said, “We’re gonna head home, Beau.”

I watched them leave before I said, “I really appreciate it but…”

He grinned and gestured to his bike. “Come on, what will it hurt?”

I found myself unable to tell that smile no.

TWO

I think it’s disrespectful that a handful of almonds have six million calories.

—Beau to Boone

BEAU

My last day as a science teacher was a bittersweet one.

I’d miss my life, my students, and the staff at Jesper County High School.