“I’m trying to get into grad school”—he was grinning from ear to ear—“and they invited me to come out for an in-person interview and tour of the gardens.” He turned to Maggie. “I really didn’t think my application would go anywhere, or I would have mentioned it earlier, sorry.” He looked at the piece of paper. “Not sure why I printed out the details, but I guess I was so surprised I needed to see it on paper.” His face was flushed, his eyes were sparkling, and Laura felt her tummy sink. Ah yes, that’s right. Grad school.

Maggie was smiling. “This is very exciting news. Tell us everything.”

“It’s thrilling,” said Polly. “You should probably give me that corn bread in celebration.”

Bob ignored her and handed Laura the printout. “See? I never would have done it if you hadn’t encouraged me.” He noticed she had her hair in the single long braid he longed to undo every time he saw it, and that she was wearing the tiny hummingbird necklace she so often did. He couldn’t help noticing; she was his favorite thing to look at, and he did it as much as he could. It was painful, but he couldn’t help it.

Laura smiled and read the letter. She looked up at him. “You did it yourself, I didn’t help you at all.” This was true. After their first conversation about it, on the day of the earthquake, it had never come up again, and Laura realized she hadn’t pursued it. She’d been so wrapped up in her own concerns, she hadn’t thought about his at all. Epic friendship fail. She handed the piece of paper back to him, and smiled. “You deserve it, I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms.” I certainly would.

Bob looked at the letter again, and a frown crossed his face. “I hope I can do it.”

“Of course you can,” said Laura emphatically, putting down her knife and fork. “Don’t doubt yourself! You’re smart, you work really hard, you have loads of experience already, probably a lot more than the other students, and you have fantastic ideas that will really make a difference! You’re going to have a great time and they’d be really lucky to have you.”

She looked around and realized everyone else was staring at her.

“Wow,” said Polly, picking up her juice and taking a sip. “Don’t hold back, say what you really think.”

“Yeah,” said Anna, “I wish I had a cheerleader like that. Jeez.”

Maggie said nothing, just leaned down to pet Daisy and hide her smile.

Laura looked at Bob, who was blushing. “Uh, thanks,” he said. “I’m not as confident about my chances as you are.”

Laura was a little bit embarrassed, but wasn’t about to back down. “You’ll see,” she said quietly. “It’ll be great.”