Then he held the football toward his father.
“Want to play catch?”
Ryan stared at him for a second.
“I’d really like that.”
They walked down to the water.
Ryan threw the ball too hard the first time.
He always did things too hard when he was nervous.
Mason caught it anyway.
They stayed there for a long time.
Later, Lauren sat beside me once more.
“There’s something else I should tell you.”
“What?”
“The promotion.”
I shook my head.
“I’m not thinking about Ryan’s promotion.”
“I know.”
She looked toward him.
“He was already going to get it.”
I looked at her.
“He still is.”
That surprised me.
“What happened today doesn’t erase the fact that he’s good at his job,” she explained.
Then her expression changed.
“But I did learn something about him today that I didn’t know before.”
I waited.
