she knew, he was standing in front of her, reaching for her hands. Without a word, he covered them in his own warm ones and brought them back with him into the cocoon of his hoodie pocket.
Sarah looked up and met his gaze. “Thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
They hadn’t spoken very much. Just a few words that morning at LAX, then a few more as they waited in St. Louis to switch planes.
She wasn’t sure why they didn’t talk, but she also didn’t mind. The two of them weren’t competing against each other directly—teams from each school would be randomly assigned teams from other schools to go up against in the preliminary rounds—but Burke felt like her competition nonetheless. She had sat through three of his and Ellen’s practice arguments, and was impressed with him each time.
He never seemed to feel rushed or nervous. The guest judges could bark questions at him one after another, and he always took the time to offer a patient explanation of why the judge’s point was a good one, but didn’t change the outcome Joe was arguing for. He always acknowledged any case law that seemed to hurt him, but then explained why it didn’t apply to this situation.
Sarah listened to those answers carefully, using them to prepare her own arguments for the other side.
Joe sat in on a few of Mickey’s and her rehearsals, too, Sarah noticed, although he always left before they finished. She assumed he was doing the same thing she was, scouting the arguments for the other side so he could better prepare for the competition.
But now all that preparation was over, and it was time to see how far they could all get. Preliminary rounds would begin the next morning, with the top two teams advancing to the finals on Saturday. There would be an awards banquet Friday night, announcing the finalists, then another banquet Saturday, then everyone would leave Sunday morning to return to their classes the next day.
“Trying to steal my girl?” Mickey asked as he came over to stand too close to where Joe warmed Sarah’s hands.
“Not your girl,” Sarah reminded him, “and I’m freezing. Thanks, Burke,” she said, starting to withdraw her hands. He gave them one more squeeze before he let them go.
“Ready?” Ellen asked, holding up a key.
“You go ahead,” Joe said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Ellen scoffed. “What do you mean, you’ll see us tomorrow?”
“Seven AM breakfast at the school, right?” Joe said. “I’ll see you there.”
He stepped up to the rental counter while Ellen continued gaping at him. “Joe, what are you doing? Let’s go.”
He told the man behind the counter his name, then turned back to Ellen and answered her with that same calm voice Sarah had heard him use on judges trying to rattle him. “I’m taking care of this myself. Don’t worry, it’s my own money. I’ll see you all tomorrow. Have a good night.” He offered that last sentiment to Sarah alone.
“But . . . what about the hotel?” Ellen asked. “We’ll see you there, right?”
“Nope, taking care of that, too,” Joe said. “I stopped sharing rooms when my brother moved out.”
Ellen had a few more things to say, but Joe ignored her. Instead he slipped Sarah a relaxed smile before turning around again to deal with the rental agent.
“Come on,” Sarah said, tugging Ellen by the arm. “It’s too cold to keep standing around. Let’s get to the hotel.”
As the three of them walked toward the exit that would lead to the garage, Sarah looked back one more time and saw Joe watching her. She gave him a single, approving nod. Then she turned and followed her classmates out the door.
***
“I have had it with that guy,” Ellen said as soon as she and Sarah were alone in their room. Sarah tried to seem busy unpacking her clothes and hanging them in the closet. “You have no idea how obstinate he is,” Ellen said. “I’ve had to fight him on absolutely everything.”
“Like what?” Sarah asked. She couldn’t remember any fights she’d had with Mickey.
Ellen counted them off on her fingers. “Who should brief which arguments. Who should lead at the oral argument. Which cases we should include and which we should wait for the judges to bring up.” Ellen shook her head. “It’s too long to go into. I wish I had your partner.”
Funny, Sarah thought, she’d been thinking the same thing about Joe. From what she had seen of him during practice, the two of them would have