Shawn

“Finally,” she sighs, flopping down onto the old leather couch in the corner of my office.

I glance at Sophia as she rubs her shoulders, then force myself to look back at the essay I’m grading. I mute my noise-canceling headphones so I can listen to her properly. The literature department wing is almost empty this late in the afternoon; only the hum of the air conditioning and the occasional distant door closing breaks the silence.

“He took forever to go to sleep,” Sophia groans, stretching her long legs and pushing her toes underneath the edge of my desk. Her sneakers sit abandoned near the door.

“Well, it’s a...