Page 31 of Let You Love Me

Now I spend most of my energy on ensuring I’m the perfect mother and daughter. No more mistakes. No more decisions based on emotion that might put me in a bad place.

“You know I don’t date football players,” I say, eyeing her.

Never again.

“Besides, heseemedokay with me having Sophie. I don’t reallyknowanything. The idea of dating someone with a child andactuallydating them and being cool with it are two entirely different things.”

“Okay, you might have a point, and under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t argue with the semantics behind football players being off-limits. I mean, your dad is the coach. That could potentially get messy, but you’re never going to know if it would work if you don’t try, right?”

I sigh. “I don’t need to try to know it won’t work. There are a million reasons why I won’t give him a shot. Him being a football player is merely one of a dozen.”

“But youdidgive him your number. There had to be a reason. I don’t think you’ve done that, like, ever.”

We take the curve in the sidewalk leading to her lecture hall.

She has a point.

“Temporary insanity?”

She snorts and I grimace.

Gabby’s been pestering me to start dating for a while, and I know she means well, but I don’t have time for anyone else in my life. Hell, I barely have time for her. We only ever hang out in-between classes and on the occasions she stops by the house to visit with me and Soph.

She pauses in front of Smithe Hall and scrunches her nose. “This is my stop.”

I chuckle. “Don’t look so excited.”

“I know some people dig astronomy, but it’s so freaking boring. Ugh. I fall asleep every single time.” She shifts the bookbag on her shoulder. “What do you have going on the rest of the day?”

“After this class, I have anthropology, and then I’ll probably get an hour of homework in before practice starts and I show up for my first day as student manager for the team.” I snap my mouth shut, eyes wide when I realize what I said. I’d yet to tell her about the student manager gig, mostly because I know she’ll havefeelingsabout me working in such close proximity to Chance. Even before I got pregnant, she disliked him, but after? I can’t so much as say his name without her lip curling.

I press my fingers over my mouth. Maybe she didn’t hear me?

“Say what now about being a student manager?”

I wince. “The estimate on the roof of the lake house is much higher than I’d hoped, and if I want to move in anytime soon, I need the money to fix it, and I refuse to accept financial help from my parents, so . . . ”

“So you took your father up on the offer to get you that spot?” she asks, and I nod. Gabby squeals and reaches out, yanking me into a hug.

Her enthusiasm surprises me.

“That’s amazing! And good for you for taking what you want.” She squeezes my arms as she draws back. “You deserve it, and screw Chance Lockhart. You shouldn’t be put out because he’s an asshole. If you didn’t take it, someone else with connections would. We both know how that goes, so it might as well be you. Don’t go feeling all guilty. Everything you have, you’ve earned through hard work. You’re the furthest thing from being a nepo baby.”

My cheeks flush and I give a little shrug. Gabby knows me too well. “Well, we agree about Chance, but like it or not, taking the job in and of itself is nepotism, but it doesn’t matter. I promised myself I’d have a place of my own and get out of their hair by graduation, and that’ll be here before you know it.”

“Wait.” Gabby’s brows knit. “If you’re taking the student manager position, that also means . . .” She trails off as her eyes brighten. “You’ll be forced to see Teagan nearly every single day.”

“Don’t remind me.” I groan. “Though I’m sure it’s a non-issue after ignoring his texts and telling him to lose my number.”

He might’ve given the impression of being persistent but in my experience, guys our age lose interest, fast. No one wants to put in the amount of effort dating me would take.

Besides, it’s not like wereallyknow each other. We metonetime prior to practice on Monday.

My gaze shifts, and it’s as though our conversation conjured him when I see him rounding the corner of the student affairs building.

“Shit,” I hiss and jerk my gaze away, dropping my head and praying he didn’t see me.

“Lane, hey!” he calls out.

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