”“Hello Tucker,” she smiled at me before looking at Lexi and I watched as her smiling face slowly morphed into that of a professional poker play...er’s, “And you must be Lexi.” “Um, yes I’m Lexi,” she replied giving me an uneasy look. “Who is she?”“She’s my homeroom teacher.”“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you Ms. Benson.”“Likewise.”“So,” I cautiously began, “Is there something you need Ms. Benson?”“Yes actually, I was wondering if I could speak with you two.”“Both of us?” she nodded. “Uh, sure, let’s. What she didn't have was the money to replenish supplies as they ran out. Thankfully, everything continued to function much as before even though Zoe was no longer alive. Groceries were delivered. The cleaning staff arrived once a day to tidy up what was now a much less disorderly home. The electricity and water continued to be on supply. But Tamara knew that at some point all this would come to an end and that she hadn't put aside nearly enough cash to cover all the costs.All the same, Tamara. "But that doesn't mean you should. You aren't responsible for Rendon Howe just because you knew in advance that he was evil. It isn't your fault that you can't prevent every bad thing from happening. Just like it's not Nathaniel's fault because it was his father."His calm voice and the slow beat of his heart soothed me, and I drifted to sleep, exhausted from the emotional day we'd had. I woke several times with nightmares – between darkspawn, Nathaniel, and Kallian, I slept poorly – but most of. " The wolf's ears perked up infear, and then it shrugged off with its tail stuck in between its legs.----Back home, Mel rolled the fortune cookie over in his hands as everyonecontinued eating. David looked up and saw the cookie, and replied, "Howcome you got one and I didn't?" Supply was low," Mel said, unwrapping the thing. "Sides, the old manwas a coot. He said that the fortune would affect all of us." To that,all six friends laughed."Yeah right," Carl said in between bites of his Sesame.