“I spent twelve minutes checking the assumptions.”
I held up my hands.
“Boys. English, please.”
Owen grinned.
“We think we did okay.”
For my sons, okay usually meant better than almost everyone else.
But I didn't say that.
We ate the sandwiches I'd packed the night before.
Across the cafeteria, students purchased expensive lunches from the campus food court.
Mason passed our table carrying a tray.
He hesitated.
“Hey,” he said.
Owen looked up.
“Hey.”
“Are you the guys from Cedar Ridge?”
“Yeah.”
Mason nodded toward their badges.
“I saw your regional scores. Pretty impressive.”
Eli seemed surprised.
“Thanks.”
“Your optimization model was really efficient.”
“You read our project?”
“Most of it.”
Mason shifted his tray.
“My dad says public school competitions don't prepare people for real research, but I think your design is actually more interesting than some of the stuff we've done.”
My heart tightened at the casual mention of Daniel.
