Cowan went upstairs to the bedroom, quickly slipping off his shoes and socks and changing into shorts and a polo shirt, then went back downstairs to the kitchen. Finding no clean glasses, he opened the dishwasher and took out one which was still hot. He almost dropped it before he got it to the sink and ran cool water over it for several seconds. James then dried it before adding ice, and a healthy serving of iced tea from the clear plastic pitcher in the refrigerator, pausing to add two generous teaspoons of sugar and heading out to the porch.

Kathy looked up at him and rolled her eyes. She could never understand why anyone would sweeten their tea that way, but she'd grown up in Manhattan. Sweetened tea was something she'd never tried until she and James met in college and she'd been definite regarding her aversion to the drink.

She was standing by the grill, and James inhaled the delicious scent of chicken breasts, smothered in barbecue sauce. A pot boiled on the side burner of the grill and rice bobbed in the water. He noticed that she'd prepared the table, and dinner was just minutes away.

“Hi, it was cooler out, so I thought we'd try eating out here,” Kathy said.

“Great idea, that smells great. What did you do today?”

“I went to work for a couple hours. Since I'm leaving in the morning and I'll be gone for several days, I wanted to make sure things were in order in my classroom. I can't believe classes will start up again in less than three weeks.”

“I know, it seems like school just got out. I bet you're already excited about getting a room full of sixteen-year-old punks who have no interest in American History.”

Kathy grimaced. “James, I can't believe your attitude sometimes! Most of the kids are good kids. I'll confess that many of them don't see the value of learning about Columbus or the Emancipation Proclamation, but at that age, I didn't either.”

“That may be true, but what am I supposed to think? When I ask you what interesting things happened at work, you tell me about Sandy being pregnant, or Mike who was expelled for fighting, or Marsha, who you caught cheating on a test. I don't hear many stories about Dave who aced the test because he spent all weekend studying just to succeed in your class because he realized its value to his future.”

Kathy smiled as she answered. “Well, I can see that you might walk away with the impression that they're a bunch of losers, but that's only a small percentage of them. Most are good kids.”

Cowan held a large glass plate out for Kathy, who removed the chicken from the grill and shut off the propane gas.

They finished prepping the food then sat at the table. Both closed their eyes and took a moment to give thanks for their food before they started eating.