s were a blur of a

ng, running errands, and helping with inventory. It wasn' t glam

like a victory, a tangible

would have been siphoned off by Rick for

college, for books, for a fu

ege course catalog and, more ambitiously, looking int

ry arts – her old dreams, now d

nce timidly suggested to Rick that she coul

ah, be serious. Who' s gonna b

w. His casual dismissal of her ambitio

of her self-worth she ha

r ag

e' d just been shackled to a man who nee

for her, academically, but she' d let her grades slip a

her old textbook

e world was on the cusp of enormous change. The internet was

declining Rust Belt town, her path

d but hadn' t pursued rigorously, thinking they weren'

ool she'

ing up a part for Mr. Henderson from

Brenda

impressive, Brenda listening with that practiced, faintl

irl, beautiful, manipulative, a

at a car wash he' d probably lose soon, was clearly pun

omething Rick said, a ti

of the old bitterness

t her prob

gesturing wildly, probably exaggerating some minor achievement. Brenda'

r each other, in a t

t and left, not giving

important t

ag. Some of the advanced math concepts

utor, someone to exp

ool teachers wer

e students she' d kn

emembered

in some advanced classes, quiet

the small Chinese restaurant on Main S

from what she remembered. He' d helped a

summer from whatever prestigi

pproaching him m

r, so focused on Rick' s needs, that she

lp felt forei

h was determined

diner, that David was indeed home and helping at his family' s restaur

y. The same one she

t like

im. She had to. Her