Page 132 of Awaiting

“Thank you for everything,” the woman told her.

“Of course. I’m happy to help.” Bexley spotted Lewis walking over to them. “Did you get your sticker?”

“Yes… I did.” He’d paused between words, which was something she’d been working with him on. “I got one… for Princess Alex… too.” He held up a sticker that Bexley recognized. “Is she coming… back?”

“I don’t know, Lewis. But I can make sure she gets this and tell her it’s from you.”

“What do you say?” his father asked.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, buddy.” Bexley rubbed his ash-blonde hair.

Once everyone, including her students, was out of the office, Bexley took a selfie where she wore theGrape Jobsticker and sent it to her girlfriend. While she finished up the paperwork for the day, she waited. Then, her phone buzzed.

Alex: Who gave you aGrape Jobsticker? Should I be jealous?

Bexley smiled and texted her back.

Bexley Woods: It’s foryou, actually. But you’re not here to wear it, so I put it on. Lewis wanted you to have it.

She saw the three bubbles appear and waited.

Alex: Tell him I said hi.

Alex: Also, I miss you like crazy.

Bexley sighed and messaged that she missed her, too. Then, she finished up her paperwork and headed back to the palace. With the term of her agreed-upon sabbatical coming to an end, she didn’t have long in Kleinland, and she’d done what she could with her students. She knew four of them would likely pursue careers in speech pathology while there were three more who might and three who she’d already given the news that they didn’t seem to have their hearts in it after all. That gave her seven students that were still active in the program, and Bexley already had her top two chosen. They had finished with all their patients and were now in the debrief portion of her program, designed to get them to write papers on their experience with their patients, recommend long-term treatment plans, and more. They could do all that on their own, and she could grade those papers from anywhere. All she really needed to do in person was review their performance with each of them and talk through their papers. That gave her an idea.

“Al?”

“Hey,” Alice said as she placed Julia in her crib. “What’s up?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Should I go?” Nora asked as she changed Tor.

“No, I just have a question.”

“Okay. Ask away.”

Bexley walked over to see Julia smiling up at her mother as Alice tickled her belly.

“I have maybe two more days of actual in-person work left with the students. You’ll have my reports and full recommendations for the scholarship, and I can grade their final projects from–”

“Go,” Alice said with a smile.

“What?”

“Go see your girlfriend, Bex. I can tell you’ve been basically miserable since you got back here. Go see Alex.”

“I’m not miserable. I love it here.” She looked down at Julia again. “I love spending time with you guys and with these two.”

“I know that. But you’re also in love, and you’re only on this side of the planet for a little bit longer.”

“She’s right,” Nora pointed out. “If it were me, I’d want to be wherever she is.”

“Are you sure?” Bexley asked. “I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you or my work here.”

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