My eyes were most likely bloodshot from the lack of sleep, but I didn't give a care. The towering stacks of paper weren't going to get done without some loss of sleep. I glanced down at my watch and saw a quarter to six in the morning. Wow, had I really been up all night?

I sat up for a moment, and let my fingers rest a bit from typing. I took a hold of one and began to crack the knuckles, an annoying habit I had discovered when my aging bones were overworked. I cracked the other hand and stretched my fingers out.

I rested my head down on the desk for a moment, my glasses clinking on the wood as I set my mind to break. The light shined from the lamp and cast shadows across the room. I saw a tired old woman at the desk, wasting her life away as a teacher, philosopher and full-time mother. The shadows did not smile in return, even though I felt my lips opening up and revealing my teeth to the air. Wow, I needed a mint badly.

Long hours, but the pay was well worth it. And the job itself, was a whole different kind of reward. I had spent the past seven years watching students grow up. I watched life give me its best and its worst, but yet they had all walked away in the end as champions. As SeeDs. It was a reward that I treasured dearly.

I laughed a little under my breath and sat up again. As far as I was concerned, there were three types of people life could deal you, such as a card game. For cards, you had a choice of a face card, a number, or an ace. Your number cards, were your average, everyday students who had a dream but it was lost somewhere along the way and they lost sight of what they wanted. These were the ones you saw most often and these were the ones that you see enough of it seemed. Every other number is the same at first glance, but in the end you do realize each one has its different value.

Face cards were the royalty of the classroom. They achieved the highest scores on tests and were the model students. Ohhh, I hated every one of them with a passion but nonetheless they graduate and you'll never deal with them again. You never saw many of them, but they were more common than your ace card, the card I favor personally.

The ace. So versatile, so flexible, so rare! Haven't you always wondered why everyone loves the ace card? Besides the fact that it could make you or break you in a game of poker, but the ace card is so valuable, yet there's hardly anything there at the first sight of it. An ace card could be anything really. That's why I love it the most. It can be any kind of person. Your social outcast, the class clown, the nerd, it could be anyone. I wouldn't call myself an ace card, that would be an honor if I did. I myself would be the face card, everyone thought I was a child prodigy after all. Perhaps I was, perhaps I wasn't...

The ace card. Squall.

A smile came to my lips and I couldn't help but to open one of my drawers at the side of the desk. My fingers wrapped around a wooden frame, chipped in one corner on its trip from the house to my office and pulled it out gently. I pulled out the flap and let it rest on top of the papers idling on my desk.

I remembered the day we took the picture. Sunny day, perfect for a day at the beach in Balamb. Everyone saw that print shop and couldn't resist, seeing as how we would most likely split paths one day and move about our separate ways. We all did, that's what we must eventually do.

Selphie was on the far left in one of her more enlightening poses. I was awfully surprised Selphie became a SeeD on that fateful day many years ago, but now it was normal to believe it. She was a kind spirit, though loud and peppy as she was, she had a heart of gold, something I envied about her. Selphie stayed with Balamb for two years before heading back to her home. Trabia Garden. In the end, it proved to be her most fatal mistake. Selphie was murdered about a year after she returned, a gunshot wound to the head on a midnight walk on the campus. What possessed her to walk alone on that cold night I did not know, but her death was nothing short of devastating to Balamb. I remember it well, because it was only a few days before I asked for my old job back.

And Irvine, next to her, hah! That jokester, that perverted, ohh! He made me want to rip every hair out of my head sometimes! Sure, my arm is around him and such, but... those were the old days. That was when things were less complicated, and life hadn't even begun to show us our true meanings. Our true colors. That was when Irvine had a heart. He became a SeeD a year after Ultimecia's defeat. I would know, I watched him take those grueling classes and finish up his training. He deserved it, but it sickens me what he did to Selphie. I just... ugh, I can't even look at his face... without seeing Selphie mixed in there somehow. It's all over his features.

After she died, he said he'd spend his life with her at Trabia. And I believed him, how silly of me. He married some ignorant bitch from Trabia Garden, working there as part of the technical crew and they had a son, who was four years last time I cared to check.

I sighed to myself. Looking on the past like that with grudges won't get you anywhere Quistis... it's over and done with.

Rinoa and Squall were in the middle with their fingers interlaced with another. They were... the picture-perfect couple. They had a great life up until Rinoa's death, and everything was perfect. Squall, busy as he was, proposed to her and was planning to marry her he loved her so much but, she died I think before he could tell her everything he ever wanted to. And he knows it still.

I glanced at the watch on my wrist again. That's right, October the second today, wasn't it? Squall had the day off. It was his daughter's birthday. Ohhh Dacera was such a sweetheart, so much like her mother but yet frightfully quiet alike to her father.

I pulled out a sheet of paper from the massive stack I had in front of me and tore off a corner. I didn't care what it was about and I ended up tossing it back within the mess of work I had. On the piece I had torn, I wrote down with a black pen a reminder to get Dacera something for her birthday. I snickered to myself as I set the pen back down. Yes, even though I am only thirty or so years of age doesn't mean I have a mind that can stretch to its limits. I forgot the important things too.

Zell was on the far right. The only one in the picture who still had yet to experience what love was truly like. I have never seen a poor soul such to that of Zell. He was always to one who had nothing to hide, yet everyone seemed to hate him. I'll never know why, he was such a sweet young man, even if he was a tad on the wild side. He never wanted to see his friends get hurt.

My eyes trailed over to the screen on my desk. A memo I had received from Squall was posted to the side. I remember it said Zell had taken a recent leave from Balamb, and Zell had mentioned he may not be back. No, he didn't say I might not be back for awhile, he said he may not be back. When I first read it, my stomach clenched and twisted in a knot. I was so scared Zell was thinking of suicide, but he just... wasn't like that. Perhaps he went home to his mother.

I smiled at the picture, seeing our loving friendship slipping from my grasp. Everyone was so busy now, or dead. Life just... it just threw us all apart again. First, the Orphanage, and now again after Ultimecia. Maybe time compression decided to throw us each in our own time warp, which continuously spiraled down toward our crucial ends.

I hope not.

Without daring to take one last look, I grabbed the picture and stuck it back in its place. The drawer closed with a loud thump, shaking the desk and sending a few papers showering to the floor. The memo Squall had given me fell off the screen and landed.

My legs felt a little wobbly underneath me, but I rose from my position and stretched with a long yawn. I suppose it was time to get down to the cafeteria before the rest of the student body decided to but at first my legs wouldn't respond to the order my brain had sent them. I began to stagger toward the door with a bit of a lurch to my walk pattern.

The sun was just coming up from the sky, illuminating the dark window in the back of the room. Before I could even get my hand to control panel for the door, my eyes were caught by the bright orange-yellow glow and I stopped my hand. The window beckoned me with its seductive glint, and I responded. I turned toward it to welcome to beauty of the day upon the room, which so desperately needed it.

I opened up the shades to the room and instantly I was welcomed with a bright light. I had to block my view with my left arm while my eyes adjusted. My right hand gently touched up to the window, as if it wanted to touch the glow, like an innocent child. As soon as my eyes had finally let the light consume them, they traveled across the plains near Balamb.

The rising sun shined its warmth across the plains, sending wave upon wave of illumination across the green and tan colored grass. Off in the distance, I could even see the tops of Balamb's homes and businesses. They looked so hot and comforting this morning.

However, a storm forming near the shores of the ocean was threatening to block the sun. Its looming gray clouds surged up into the sky, and soon the rain would fall and the lightning would flash. Thankfully, it wasn't moving directly toward them and the storm would probably only dump rain on the Garden. I loved storms. For some reason, they seemed to set me at peace.

Standing there at the window, looking out at that storm made me think of that tragic night seven years ago. It was just another storm, alike to all of the others out there. I guess the weather and alcohol could have a devastating effect on your body when mixed together. It was kind of funny that they were both dangerous on their own, then when mixed together... who knows what suffering will become of it.

I sighed deeply and let the curtains fall. Soon what little light the room had vanished and I was in the darkness once again. Only the faint glow from my desk lamp shined the way.

The twins were barely two years old. Fatality had somehow managed to extend her vocabulary tremendously over a period of a week. Kavetina barely spoke she was so shy, but she always tried to tag along with her big sister. They were pretty equal, and sometimes even I had to check a few more times to make sure who was who.

I had offered to baby-sit the twins while Seifer took Elianta out to see a movie. What a fool he was.

"It's just another ordinary night," Seifer said, pulling his arms through the coat. It was chilly and even though he wasn't even through the door yet, I could still see his breath trailing him. "I suspect eleven at the latest."

His wife, Elianta, smiled and turned to me. She always was a pretty soul, but underneath was a cold-blooded killer. I could tell. "If anything comes up, we'll call. And we expect the same." she said, and grinned again.

I nodded and my attention was interrupted by one of the twins. A cry came out from the living room and I faced the direction the call came from.

Seifer grabbed Elianta's hand and nearly dragged her out the door. "Come on! Quistis can handle them."

As I went to the living room to check on the girls, I still saw his wife's eyes come into the home and search for any trouble. She couldn't even set aside her mothering worries for one night to be with her husband. It was either that or she didn't trust Quistis.

I knew that the twins couldn't have been in the living room by themselves and when I checked on the two, I saw the answer right away. Kavetina had scooted her chair across the kitchen floor and into the living room, where I was happily greeted by an airborne blob of mashed potatoes.

I wiped the disgusting and surprisingly only lukewarm potatoes from my face and flicked my hand to be rid of the awful mess. All Kavetina did was giggle at my expense, and she bounced delightfully in her chair. Her much more content older sister, Fatality, an odd name for a young child if you ask me, started garbling complete nonsense from the kitchen.

"Fwuck vrrooomm..." she said, and I could almost picture her playing with her spoon. "Dumb twrash."

As Kavetina happily giggled in her chair, I walked over to Fatality. On the way there, I had to avoid a mountain of blocks, three juice stains, and the remote control for the television, or the sound system... or... gaaah I'm not sure.

"What're you doing gorgeous?" I asked her in my baby-voice. It was a little high, but sweet.

"Fwuck go vrrroom!" Fatality replied, and lifted her spoon up to me. Mmmm, on the menu tonight was peas, mashed potatoes and some ham. A swell of peas mixed in with potatoes was hoisted to my nose.

I pushed it away gently. "Fatality, can you say... dump truck?" It was honestly the first thing that came to my mind, considering that's what I thought I had heard from her mouth before. Kavetina continued jerking herself in the chair, and I had to stick my foot out to keep it down on the floor.

She gave me an adorable toddler face and asked, a bit confused, "Dumb fwuck?"

I'm not sure what came over me, but I found myself bursting into laughter. Dumb fuck! Ohhh although I'm sure Elianta would have an outrage if she heard her daughter say that, I kept right on laughing. This encouraged the child to say it again.

"Dumb fwuck!"

More laughter split into my side and out from my mouth. From my near tearing eyes, I could see Fatality bouncing a little and I realized I would have to stop giggling. Elianta would have a fit if she saw what I was teaching Fatality but it was just so funny. Dumb fuck, it was too cute!

"Dumb fwuck, dumb fwuck!"

The child continued to chant it from the comfort of her chair and soon her chanting turned into screaming at the top of her lungs. Her younger sister, who wanted to do everything like her older sister, began to join along in a chorus of deafening proportions. I soon stopped my chuckling however when I felt little specks of something dropping on my head. My hand reached out and snatched out the peas that were tangled within my hair.

I stood up and scooted Kavetina's high-chair back into the kitchen as she resumed throwing her supper at her sister. I couldn't help a small snicker or two that escaped from my mouth. It was still so funny. Dumb fuck... haha haaa...

When the two were situated again, I grabbed both of their spoons, stole their half-eaten suppers and tossed them all in the sink with a roaring clash. Immediately, the two girls looked in my direction after the noisy crashing of the dishes. At first, their wide blue eyes were filled with shock and I thought to myself, hah! No supper for you!

Then their tiny faces began to crumble and I noted to myself, first meltdown of the night. The wails coming from the mouths of the twins I swear could've been heard for miles. Tears started to pour down the cheeks and I knew if I didn't do something fast, it was going to get ugly.

I nearly sprinted from the kitchen sink into the living room. Again, I had to dodge all sorts of obstacles in my way, but on the way there I didn't end up so well. My foot caught the top of the mountain of blocks, and my body lurched forward. My other foot jumped and landed in a mess of something and to this day, I'm still not sure what it was, but my mouth uttered a reply of revulsion. I almost shrieked when my already injured foot came down upon one of their hard-faced dolls and rolled to the side. When this occurred, I fell flat on my butt. It's a miracle I didn't land on something, or worse, in something.

And there I sat, my cheeks flushing a deep red and my ears becoming hot.

The twins, I soon noticed, had ceased their crying. Both of them were looking over to me, Kavetina with a greasy finger halfway in her mouth and peering at me with intense curiosity. I believe it was Fatality who started chortling, and soon the other was too.

As my mind began to imagine how silly I must've looked sprawled out like that, I joined in on the laughing.

I laughed until my eyes begged me to stop with their watery tears. Once I had regained control of myself, I picked myself up from the floor, pointed to the television and said, "Who wants to watch a movie?"

I knew the instant I said that there would be massive chaos among the twins and again, how right I was. Kavetina barely survived a nasty fall to the floor as she recoiled with joy. I leaped forward and caught the chair, just in time. Fatality began her loud chanting again by yelling out, "'Ovie! 'Ovie!" and kicking her legs to the wood.

Perfect. I've got them where I want them now...

So I popped in the movie, and there we sat on the couch watching it. And, as I knew would happen, both of them fell asleep on separate cushions beside me. I remembered glancing at my watch and finding that it was only nine o'clock. As soon as I had put the twins to bed, I would have the rest of the night to try and catch up on some paperwork from Garden.

Using one of the many remotes I found hidden within the cushions of the couch, I turned off the movie and got up from my awkward position. I stretched my arms up and felt my shoulders crack. I'm sure it wasn't healthy for you, but it felt good after being cuddled up for nearly an hour.

Gently, I knelt down to the side and plucked up Kavetina. She was curled up a little ball with her thumb pleasantly tucked into her mouth. I figured there was no need to change Kavetina into her pajamas, but I noted to change her diaper before putting them to bed. She needed it badly. Softly she was laid into the crib, and I went to retrieve the other one.

On my way to the couch, my path was cut short by a small figure walking toward me. I knelt down to the child and scooped her up into my arms.

She rubbed her soft blue eyes with a somewhat pudgy hand and yawned. I smiled and hoisted her up a little to hold onto her better. Fatality set her head down on my shoulder, and like her sister, stuck her thumb in her mouth right away. The small gesture made a much happier, more warm smile appear on my face. Perhaps Fatality wasn't always the idolized, it seemed even she had someone to look up to.

When I set her down on the changing table, her eyes opened up again and looked straight at me. I assumed she was too tired to know what was going on, but it still startled me a little. I disposed of the used diaper and put a fresh one on Fatality. Soon, her eyes closed again and she was still. I grinned and snatched the other one up from the crib. I soon finished changing her as well and she was set back in the bed.

I each blew them a kiss good night and began walking out. My hand got to the light switch and had shut off all of the power in the room when I heard a soft cry from the crib. My first thought was ohhh no, no glass of water for you young lady. I didn't realize one simple moment with a child was yet to come, one I would treasure forever even though she wasn't yet my daughter.

"Kisee?" I heard from the crib. Since neither of them could properly pronounce all of their letters yet, that was the closest my name got. Slightly irritated, I walked over expecting a stall tactic to ensure her a later sleep time.

I saw Fatality's inquiring eyes and I replied, "Yes sweetie?"

Again her hand rubbed her eyes. "Win da-da home?"

In toddler talk, that translated to when is my father coming home.

I carefully brushed a piece of her lovely brown hair away from her forehead and responded, "Soon dear. Daddy and mommy went out to see a movie." I didn't speak my mind out loud, but if I had, it would've sounded something close to, yes daddy and mommy went out to a movie and instead spent the night in the car out in some deserted parking lot. What were they doing? Well Fatality my dearest, you can ask them when they get home.

"I wan da-ee..." Fatality started, and choked into a soft cry. She had managed to pull herself up to speak with me at the bars of her crib but now she flopped back down on the mattress and sobbed.

For a moment, I thought to myself, I wish I had a love in my life too... but then the thought passed. I want your daddy too, I've wanted him ever since I started teaching in his class Fatality. Sadly, it was the truth, yet nothing was mumbled from my lips. That was the past, the near past. Time to put it away.

My hand patted her head gently and I said, "Daddy will be home soon. Now rest."

For once, the young lady didn't put up a fight, and she laid back down. I chuckled to myself, touched by her innocent and young beauty. I stood there for a few more moments, watching them sleep peacefully. Whoever said toddlers weren't good observers and didn't experience mature emotions needed to be shot.

My mind continued to wander aimlessly, drifting back often to the thought of how mature these two seemed. I actually believed I started dozing off when I heard the ring of their telephone.

I snapped back to attention. Quistis, atten hut! The ring of the telephone registered immediately, but my brain was a little slow. After the second ring, I finally sprang up and nearly missed the call. I caught the cordless in the master bedroom.

"Hello?" I said, a little out of breath.

"Hi, my name is Dieto Frost with the Galbadian police patrol in Deling City. Who is this?"

My heart leaped to my throat and began to beat harder. "My name is Quistis Trepe..." I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "What's the trouble? What's wrong?"

I heard a sigh from the other end of the line. There was some filing of papers, something I knew all too well and then his voice returned. "Are you a relative or a friend of the Almasy family?"

"I'm their baby-sitter tonight, but yes, I'm a friend of the family."

Oh Hyne, what was going on!? My heart was beating rapidly and I could feel it all the way to my fingertips. I wanted to scream at this officer. What's happened? What's going on?

"Does the Almasy family have any immediate family within the vicinity?"

Family? Family!? What was this, an interrogation? He seemed so calm.

I clutched the phone tightly in my hand and I rose from the bed. I paced about the room, moving from one wall to another.

"Uhhh... I truly have no idea. I wouldn't be the one to ask."

His deep voice replied, "I see."

I covered the phone for a moment while I gasped for air. I didn't realize I had taken in a breath of air and held it.

"Well, we can do a background check on the family."

I remembered from my younger days, how I would read small novels and mini-mysteries. The more this phone call dragged on, the more it seemed to be like a phone call from one of those books I had read when I was much younger. What was it? A murder? Rape?

Seifer, what have you done now? What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time around? First it was fire crackers at the beach, threatening the President, now what?

I began to rub my pulsing temples. Ohhh I should've never accepted the job.

"Ma'am? Are you still there?"

I replied quickly, "Yes, I am."

"I'm sure you're going through a variety of scenarios in your head right now, hmm?"

I let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Heh, I guess."

I quickly went into the girls' room to check on them, and once I did, I heard his voice come back on the phone. He didn't even really need to say anything, somewhere deep down inside, I think I knew what he was going to say before he even got the words to his lips. Thing is though, he knew it too.

"At approximately eight twenty this evening, a three vehicle collision occurred on the outskirts of Deling City. Seifer Almasy, the driver and his wife Elianta stopped at a highway intersection before passing through."

Hyne, a car crash... that's what killed him. If he's dead at all, he may not be. I started nibbling cautiously on my fingernails.

"- car collided on the passenger's side, killing Elianta instantly. She was dead when the paramedics arrived. Once this had happened, the car spun out of control and into the ditch. Seifer..."

What about their daughters dammit!? How careless of Seifer! What a selfish bastard he was to get... wait, Elianta...?

"- time breathing and when the medics arrived, they couldn't save him."

It didn't make sense to me. Why would he do that? Why would he pull out if there was another car coming? Was Seifer drunk? He's rushing this...

I was breathing rapidly with the beat of my heart. My head throbbed terribly.

"Do you have any questions?"

Only a million. Was this all he was going to say? There had to be more. I sighed impatiently, again rubbing the temples. It seemed to make more sense to me if I came out there with the children or he came here if he wanted to run things smoothly. It was only a few hours by train to Deling and perhaps an hour by car after departing the train.

I said, "Only one as of now." My head was starting to swim. All of a sudden, I didn't feel so well and I had the urge to vomit. "Could we meet somewhere and discuss this? It's late, and the twins..."

The man on the other side chuckled a little and answered, "Understandable. I'm sure I've caused enough trouble for you... I did want this call to end as soon as possible." As he said that, his voice seemed to lower and become more dark. "Is there any way you could get yourself and the children here to Deling? If not, the patrol ca -"

"Yes yes, I can do it easily enough."

"Fair enough," he replied, and I heard more shuffling papers. "If you need anything, I will be here all night if you wish to call. Otherwise, could you come to Deling as early as tomorrow?"

"That would be fine." I nodded. But would it really be though? I had to report this to Garden yet. They wouldn't care much about Seifer's death, they'd just want to know whether I'd be there to teach class or not.

"You are aware of Deling's layout, yes?"

I coughed, feeling a hot sensation flare up in my stomach. It was inevitable now, I was going to be sick. I had to get off the phone. "Yes."

He said, "How about coffee at the patrol station? We're not far from the Caraway Mansion."

I was in a hurry now, I was already rushing toward the bathroom. "I can find it. I've been there."

I could hear him faintly writing something down and then his voice came on again, "What's your name again ma'am?"

Hot bile, it was slowly lurching up my throat. "Quistis... ohhh Trepe."

"Noon tomorrow then, Miss Trepe. Good day."

"Fare... well..." I said, and I dropped the phone as I felt the vomit rising. Leaning over the toilet, I threw up. As everything came out in a dizzying, sickening rush, I felt my emotions go with it. Tears began to roll down my eyes as my head rested against the edge of the seat. My choking sobs echoed in the bathroom and out the window.

Ohh why did you have to die Seifer? You idiot! You and your wife! You left your children... family... your home... your friends... not like you ever cared for them...

I remember I spent the rest of the night crying in the bathroom. Eventually, somehow in that strange position, I had cried myself to sleep and when morning shined in through the window, I could hear the girls yelling for their daddy and I could feel my neck screaming in protest.

The light of the lamp was still dim, but now the sun had risen higher up in the sky. The storm clouds had passed a little, allowing the sun to shine onto the Garden.

I was thankful to Hyne that the girls were a little too young to understand what death was. Once Dieto and I had placed the girls in an orphanage until I could come up with the money to adopt them myself, I kept praying to Hyne that they wouldn't remember. They were too young. How could they?

Remember, there's something about young children that shows their maturity. They understand emotions almost as well as we do. They're observers too.

I sighed and sat down at my desk again. Dieto was there to greet me in his picture frame, sitting on a Balamb bench smoking a cigarette. After Seifer's death, we kept seeing each other, even after the whole situation had been sorted out.

I hated to look back on Seifer's death, but I have so much today from it. My husband, our children, his children... I couldn't imagine my life now without them. Though as sad as it may sound, his death gave my life meaning. It influenced it.

I didn't have any pictures of Seifer to this day, but I have his children, my children. I could see Seifer in their faces, in their eyes. He was still very much with us, he was watching us through his own daughters.

I don't understand life as much as everyone else thinks I do. Yes, I did help defeat Ultimecia, who threatened to take away all of what we had but that didn't give me the knowledge to understand it. It was only one experience, with so much information it was hard to grasp onto things. The concept was difficult, and one false step could send you into a time warp for eternity.

I think it would take an entire lifetime to fully understand life. We must live it before we can comprehend it.

The sun had now risen high enough to the point where I could see the beams displayed on the far wall. Just enough to spill over the edge of the window.

Don't ask me what life means, what it is, or why life deals us certain cards. Many things are paired with it. Perhaps it's just our duty to find them all.

A thought occurred to my mind as I sat for a few seconds, watching the rays on the floor of the classroom. Before the thought could slip away from my grasp, I grabbed the telephone and dialed the number home.

A few rings was all it took for Kavetina to answer.

"Hi honey," I said, leaning forward a little in my chair. "Has your father left yet?"

An innocent, absolutely adorable reply, "No, he's still here. You want him?"

I nodded. "Yes please."

"Okay, one second."

There was the sound of the phone begin exchanged between hands.

And then, his voice came back to me all over again. "Did you forget to call and tell me you were going to stay at the Garden last night?"

I laughed to myself a little. "I guess I did." As I was talking to him, I pulled open one of desk drawers.

"What's up?"

My fingers roamed through the mess I had begun in my drawer, and they latched themselves around a set of keys, just to make sure they were still there. Yup, still were.

I could hear the sounds of breakfast in the background at home. Kavetina was most likely helping her father make pancakes and Fatality probably had her head stuck in a book while the food was being prepared.

The image made me smile. Sometimes... it's the little things in life such as the image of your family at the breakfast table... that kept us going through life. To keep going through it all.

"Dieto?" I asked.

"Yes?"

The breakfast table... the dinner... the movie, the phone call... death... I jangled the keys in my desk.

I said, "Don't expect me home for supper tonight."

I could imagine one of his rough eyebrows raising against the phone. "Oh? And why is this?"

I jingled the keys once more and then dropped them. "I'm walking home tonight."

And I slammed the desk drawer shut.