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Northwestern. I gave him my number and he said he’d call me. I lied and told him I was already in college.”
    Allie looked at her phone. “My mom texted. Told me to get home. We’re meeting my dad for lunch. He’s working today.”  
    Allie’s dad was dean of the college of medicine at the university where my parents worked, technically making him their boss. That could have made things weird between us, but my parents rarely saw the dean so it was no big deal.
    “Well, I guess since you’re gone this weekend, I’ll see you on Monday.”
    “Yeah. But I’ll call you tomorrow from the ski lodge. I can’t believe I’m stuck with my parents all weekend.”
    “ I can’t believe that we only have a few months left and then we’ll be on opposite coasts.”
    “Oh, yeah. That’s true.” Allie had already been accepted to a small private college in New York. She was studying journalism. “So I guess you won’t be my friend anymore because of the whole ‘long-distance’ thing.” She put the words in air quotes, but smiled to let me know she was just kidding.
    “Okay. I got the message. And don’t worry, we’ll always be friends, Allie.”
    “Good. Well, I should go.” We got up and headed downstairs. “So what are you and Colin doing tonight?”
    “Seeing a movie. I don’t know which one.”
    Allie made a face. “That’s real exciting.”
    “He’s making me go to some party afterwards.”
    “At Darin’s house? Yeah, I heard about that. Should be fun. Wish I could go. But no, I’ll be stuck in the car with my parents.”
    “You’ll have fun, Allie,” I said, as she put her coat on.  
    Allie left just as Mom came downstairs.  
    “Did Allie head home?” Mom asked.
    “Yeah, they’re leaving tonight, so I’ll see her on Monday.”
    “Ready to power shop? I saw on the news that the stores are jam-packed. Want to have lunch here or go out?”
    “What’s Dad doing for lunch?”
    “He’s messing around in the garage. He’s watching the game out there. Another day of football, you know.”
    “Maybe we could eat here with him and then go out.”
    “Okay. I’ll start hauling the leftovers out of the fridge. You go tell him.”
    I grabbed my coat and went to the garage, where Dad was staring at the small TV set that was on his workbench.  
    “What are you doing out here, Dad?” I asked him.
    I startled him. “What? Oh, just watching the game. And changing the wipers on the car. They said it might rain tonight. These old wipers don’t even work anymore.”
    “Mom’s getting lunch ready, so come in when you’re done.”
    “I thought you two were shopping.”
    “After lunch. I told Mom we should eat lunch with you instead of leaving you all alone.”
    Dad looked surprised. “Oh, well that’s nice of you. But I would’ve been fine alone.” He glanced at the TV again.
    “I’ll let you watch your game.”
    “Wait. I want to talk to you for a minute.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Well, now that you got into Stanford, I just wanted to make sure that you still want to go there. I don’t want you to feel like you have to. You did apply to other schools.”
    “Of course I want to go there.”
    “Are you sure?” He looked at me for additional confirmation.
    “Yes, Dad. I want to go to Stanford.”
    “And you know that you can study whatever you want. Your mother and I don’t want you to think you have to go into a science field just because we did. I mean, I know you love science and it comes easy to you, but you might want to study something else.”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know. Whatever interests you.”
    “I’m interested in genetics.”
    He smiled. “Well, that could be because your father has been teaching you about it since you were little.”
    “No, Dad. I really am interested in it. And I’ll know for sure if that’s what I want to do after I work in your lab this spring.”
    “Well, you’ll see what goes on there, and you’ll help with some office stuff. But you