Thirteen Years Later, Two Blue Competition Badges Answered Every Question

She put them in the drawer with the folder.

The stairs creaked, and Eli came down in his socks for a glass of water.

“Is it always going to be like that?” he said.

“Those people.”

“No.” She handed him the glass.

“It’s going to be like this.”

He drank it and looked at the drawer and didn’t ask about it, and she was glad.

“Next year there’s regionals again,” he said.