Tyler must have e-mailed me from home that night. When I checked my e-mail in the morning, his was there, time stamped 12:11 a.m.

Good evening, Lori,

I missed you tonight. The black belt test
was boring and sweaty, as predicted, but we went out to The Tap Room afterward. I think Master H might have been on to me because he asked if I was expecting someone when I kept looking around. Oh well.

Anyway, I’m home now and have to get up early, so it’s off to bed with me. Sweet dreams, Lori.

Master Tyler

The fact that he wanted to see me so much swept over me. I had wanted to see him, too, but I still thought about Mouse every second of the day. My emotions were bouncing back and forth between feeling down when I missed Mouse and feeling ecstatic when I thought of Tyler. Overall, it was exhausting.

I wrote back—

Hello, Master Tyler!

I fell asleep in front of the TV last night. I know, lame, right? I guess I needed it, though, because I only woke up once to get into bed and then I slept straight through until my alarm went off this morning.

I’ll still see you on Thursday, though, right? 5:00 at the Crowne Plaza? I’m looking forward to it. Is there anything special you want to see? Er, besides me, of course!

Lori

I left it at that. The week would drag until Thursday, but it would go too quickly at the same time.