After Saul dropped me at my house, I bolted at the speed of light to get the house a little tidier – and Beauregard a little less grumpy – before I had to go pick up Sawyer. I had thought about asking Saul if we could grab him on the way home, but then I’d hit upon an adventure for Sawyer and me that would let us get out a bit and help me with my research, too.
I’d always envied those parents whose children ran toward them when they’d been parted for a time, but I hadn’t had much experience in that particular joy. Sawyer had always been the kind who clung back, holding on to the person they’d just been with. Today, though, when I pulled up to the school and Sawyer saw me, he sprinted across the schoolyard and leapt into my arms. I barely kept my balance as he scrambled up my body like a l
