Stanley glanced at Ellie. It was a quick, instinctive check-in from someone who feels the need to share a moment of happiness with another person. Ellie focused on the table when he looked at her, but she looked up and smiled.
"We were deliberate about it," Stanley said. "Both of us."
"We decided what it should feel like before we decided what it should look like."
"That's the right order," Mike said.
"Most people do it the other way," Ellie said.
"Most people do many things the wrong way and wonder why they don't feel right," Mike said.
Stanley looked at him.
"You're more precise than you were," he said. "When we were young, you said fewer things, but they landed the same way. Now it's—"
"More of them," Ellie said. "Same landing."
"I've had practice," Mike said.
"In economics?" Stanley said.
"In most things," Mike said.
Stanley paused for a moment, chewing thoughtfully. Then he asked, "Why international economics, specifically? Of all the possible directions?"
