Winning Skylinn

58

The next evening, Denver had an official welcome-home dinner with my family. My mom made his favorite food: tortellini with Alfredo sauce. We hadn't had it in forever!

"Thank you so much for having me," Denver said as he ate. "You just don't get home-cooked meals like this at boot camp."

"Well we're glad to have you," Mom replied. "You're welcome any time, you know."

"Thanks."

He talked to my dad a lot about the basic training and what he'd be doing next. It wasn't so much the words he said that impressed me, but more the passion in his voice when he spoke of something he was excited about. That kind of thing made everyone shine a little brighter in my opinion, but it worked even more on him.

After dinner, I introduced him to Mistletoe. He hadn't been able to pet her or anything when he was here yesterday, so now was his chance. He'd never been much of an animal person-and he was allergic to cats-but he seemed to like mine. He could only pet her a little bit, though, before his allergies started acting up.

He went home soon after and promised we'd take a look at colleges tomorrow. I was excited for that. It was about time I became an adult!

- - -

After church the next morning, Denver came home with us and we set up my laptop and some snacks for our big research party.

"So you've officially decided? You want to be a teacher?" Denver asked.

"Yes. I think I do. And if I don't, I can always change my major."

"That's true. Good. We're off to a good start. Now, do you want to stay in the area, or go out of state?"

"Definitely wanna stay here. I'd like to be able to keep my job at Sunrise, and see my family."

"Well I can't promise college will give you time for a job, but we'll try to work that out."

I bit my lip. Maybe he was right. Maybe I'd have to quit my job once I started college. I didn't even want to think about how sad that made me, so I pushed the thoughts from my head.

"Pretty much every school has a teaching program, but you want the best. Don't you?" Denver asked.

"It doesn't really matter. I just want something affordable and good for the college experience."

"You mean...?"

"No! No, not that! Just living with a roommate, and going to classes, and meeting new people."

"Ah. Good." He winked so I'd know he was kidding.

"So, shall we start our search?"

"We've got the resources. Let's do it."

- - -
A/N: Sorry for the boring filler. I've already picked out a college for Skylinn, and it's a real one that I actually researched. Yay me for having the motivation to use google! I've actually had to do that a lot with this story... Anyways, hope you enjoyed and will stay tuned for more!