She began to look over the mountain of papers she had to have corrected for Monday's classes. She was halfway through the history quiz she had given on Friday when the knock sounded on her door. She tensed, knowing Hunt would have tapped out his special little clichéd rhythm. She smoothed suddenly damp palms down the side of her denim pants, tugged her T-shirt down over her hips, and went to the door. "Howdy." It was Deke she-couldn't-remember-his-last name, and in his jeans and denim jacket he looked ten feet tall, holding her little ice bag by its plastic neck. "Just stopped by to return this." "Uh, thank you, Mister…” "Just Deke is okay." His eyes skittered past her shoulder. "Actually, I had an ulterior motive." "Oh?" She took the ice bag from him, her face carefully expressionless. "I was hoping I might get invited in for a cup of coffee." A grin split his wide mouth. "Figured the air might be a little better up here than it is down there." He nodded toward the stairway.
