Owen Mercer?”
Owen nodded.
For the first time all day, Mason laughed, but there was no cruelty in it.
“I knew those names sounded familiar.”
Daniel frowned. “From where?”
Mason looked at his father as if the answer should have been obvious.
“The state rankings. Their team has been ahead of ours in the online challenge series almost all year.”
Vanessa finally joined us.
“Mason,” she said softly.
But he kept going.
“Eli had that environmental model that got featured in the student research showcase, right?”
Eli nodded again, visibly uncomfortable with the attention.
“And Owen solved the final proof problem at regionals,” Mason said. “Our coach showed us his solution.”
Daniel’s face changed a second time.
He had spent the morning looking past my sons because their jackets were plain and their school wasn’t one he recognized.
His own son had known their names before he did.
Vanessa folded
