"Yeah, let's hope," he said with a sigh. Again: not much hope. Though the Teapot Trials were probably going to be interesting. This was the sort of thing he would have wanted to go to with or without the girls, so it had that advantage over all of the dreary social events he might have skipped had he not had the burden of playing eternal chaperone to several unmarried sisters who were loathe to skip any chance at being seen. Maybe someday he'd be able to actually go to events just because he wanted to, again. As it was, this race was going to be spent mostly fretting over the girls, the same way all of his social events were. At least he still had a few nights to himself, here and there — for haunted houses, and things.