Page 22 of How We Loved

My heart melts at the sound of him saying he’ll hopefully be my boyfriend soon.

Ben, on the other hand, raises his eyebrows in shock at what just came out of Trevor’s mouth. He’s not taking it the way I did. He stands up a little taller. “Oh, I’ll always be needed, so you’d better get used to me being right here.”

They stare at each other, so I break the tension between them.

“Okay …” I push Ben further down the front porch. “Let’s get going.”

Thankfully, Ben doesn’t say anything more as he heads to his truck, and we walk to Trevor’s.

“It was nice meeting you,” Trevor says.

Ben, being Ben, just holds up his hand, acknowledging that Trevor said something, but doesn’t respond.

Once we’re in the truck, Trevor turns to me with a sarcastic grin. “Well, that went well.”

I laugh out loud. “Sorry. He’s a little overprotective. I promise, once he gets to know you, he’ll be totally fine.”

He starts the engine and puts the car in reverse. “Now, I see why you don’t date guys from Leighton River.”

I sigh as I reach for my seat belt, then shake off that entire encounter. “Forget about him. How was your day?”

“Oh, so we’re already at that stage in this relationship?” He turns to me with a tilt to his head and a cheesy grin. “How was your day, dear?” he asks in a soft voice, making me laugh. He reaches over and grabs my hand. “Just kidding. My day sucked until now. How about you?”

I shrug. “Nothing special. Just school. Why did your day suck?”

“Just done with school. Ready for it to be over. Senioritis is kicking in strong for me, and the year just started.”

“Where do you plan on going to college?”

“College?” He looks at me and shakes his head with a sigh. “I’ll only go if I can get a bull riding scholarship. I have one more season to give it my all. Otherwise, it’s straight to work.”

“Oh.” I sit back, wondering what my dad would think if I said I wasn’t going to college. I never even thought that was an option, if I’m being honest.

“Does that surprise you?”

I shrug. “I guess everyone has different paths.”

“Yep, my path is to follow in my father’s footsteps in the factory and work myself to the bone, all while barely making ends meet along the way.” He looks at me. “I take it, you’re going to follow in your father’s footsteps?”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t plan on working at TimeLand. Yes, he helped create it, but he’s not the owner, so it’s not like anything will be handed down to me, like it was supposed to be with Dalton.” I pause as the thought hits me. I wonder what will happen now. I shake it off, then continue, not wanting to go down that road with Trevor right now. “Dalton’s dad is the CEO. Mine is on the board and a major stakeholder.”

“That must be a trip,” he says, shaking his head.

“What?”

“Being able to buy anything you want.”

I speak up, feeling like I need to defend myself. “I’m not spoiled, if that’s what you mean. My dad is actually pretty strict about giving me money. He grew up in Leighton River. He knows what it was like to not live the way we do now.”

He places his hand over mine. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just something I’ve never thought was possible. I’m jealous, is all.”

“Don’t be jealous. Life isn’t that different for us.”

He laughs. “Yes. It is, but let’s not let that get between us. After all, opposites attract, right?” He grins, and his cute dimple pops out, making me smile as well. “Money doesn’t matter. It’s the company you keep. And right now, I feel like I’m in pretty good company.”

He squeezes my hand as he turns the corner into our downtown area. He parks in front of Journeys, an ice cream shop. “Want some ice cream?”

I unbuckle my seat belt and open the door. “I’ll never turn down a scoop of pumpkin ice cream. I look forward to fall just for this reason.”

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