Page 51 of Hail Marry
It’s the honest truth. We hopped on this train together, and it’s a one-way ticket, like it or not.
Luckily, I like it. I just wish it was less stressful for Luca.
He stares at our hands. “Right.” His hand squeezes mine back. “For the record, I think Ryan is crazy.”
My heart somersaults, and I force a laugh. “Because he called you slow?”
“No.” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, and the edge of his mouth quirks slightly. “Okay, maybe a little.”
I throw his hand off mine, pretending to be offended, and he smiles and grabs his water bottle. “What happened with you two anyway?”
I glance at him, then shrug, striving for nonchalance, even though admitting why I got dumped feels like stripping down in the middle of this stadium while it’s packed full. “I just wasn’t enough for him. Not driven enough. Too impulsive. Ryan has a twenty-year plan, and I’ve never had my life together enough to know what I’m doing next week, let alone next year.
“I think he thought he could…guide me into being what he wanted. But then he met Kimberly. And she was already everything he wanted me to be. And more.” I swallow the lump in my throat, forcing away the memory of the moment he told me it was over. He didn’t mention Kimberly, but I knew. I’d suspected for a while but was in denial.
Luca’s gaze is fixed on me, searching my face. “I think you lucked out.”
My brows pull together.
“You don’t belong with someone like him—someone who’s trying to change you. It sounds like the problem wasn’t that you weren’t enough; it was that he couldn’t handle everything you have to offer. Him and his boring twenty-year plan.” He smiles a little and meets my eyes squarely, becoming more serious again. “I’m sorry he hurt you. But I’m grateful he didn’t succeed in changing you.”
My eyes are stinging, but I force myself not to blink and betray how it feels to hear that.
Our gazes hold for a few seconds, and my chest is full of swirling emotions.
He breaks his gaze away suddenly. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?” He takes another enormous gulp, draining the bottle. “Or were you just bored?”
I shove aside my confusing emotions and scoff. “I haven’t been bored since the day I met you.” I say it jokingly, but it resonates inside. I haven’t felt this alive for a long time. The stakes may be high, but apparently I’m an adrenaline junkie.
“Me neither.” He chucks me under the chin. There’s something almost flirtatious in the gesture, and I can’t figure out how to respond. Or why I liked it so much.
“So youdidwant to talk about something?” Luca asks.
“No,” I say, positive tonight isn’t the right time to break the news about what we’ve gotten into. “Well, yeah. I don’t know what your plans are for draft night—maybe you want to be with your football buddies—but my family is dying to meet you, and they’ve mentioned having a little get-together for draft night multiple times.”
His brows lift.
I feel the sudden need to offer him a hundred outs. “Only if you don’t have other plans. Maybe you want to be alone. Or with Zach. Or?—”
“Tori,” he says with the ghost of a smile.
It’s the first time he’s called me that, and my breath hitches. “Yeah?”
“I’m in.”
I find myself grinning widely. I don’t know why. It’s bound to be a disaster. But I love my family, and I can’t avoid them any longer.
Plus, I want Luca to have the support he deserves, and my family, crazy as they make me, are great at being there when it counts.
13
LUCA
I look like Santa Claus,a bag slung over my shoulder as I wait for Tori to answer her door. But Santa Claus comes bearing gifts, not laundry and the other miscellanea I’ve got.
The door opens, and Tori smiles at me. She looks beautiful, wearing her hair wild and wavy with a loose, silky shirt and a pair of jeans. The energy she’s giving off is slightly frazzled. “Did you bring it all?”
“Yep,” I say, letting the bag drop off my shoulder. “What’s it for, exactly?”
