Page 58 of My Heart to Keep
Surprises weren’t my thing, but I couldn’t help but grin as butterflies came alive in my stomach. “What’s the occasion?” It wasn’t my birthday.
“I’ll tell you when you come home.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
I wasn’t sure I could wait another week for Thanksgiving break.
“I’m going to go before I ruin the surprise.” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“You know if I were there, I would tickle it out of you.”
“Ha. You could try,” she teased. “I love you to the stars and back.”
“Quinn, dream about me.”
“Always. Talk to you tomorrow.” Then she hung up.
Man, I was the luckiest guy on earth to have Quinn as my girl. Grinning like the lovestruck dude that I was, I called Noah.
“Hey, man,” Noah said. “Something wrong?”
“I need your help. Tell me all about Trevor, Sloane’s stepbrother.”
“Jeez, nothing to tell really. He’s a good ballplayer. Girls drool over him.”
“Does Quinn?” I held my breath.
One beat passed, then two, and still no response.
My body was turning numb. I swore that if he so much as said yes, I was hitching a ride to Ashford tonight. “Noah, man, you still there?”
He cleared his throat. “Do you want it straight?”
I belted out a laugh, albeit not a happy one. “No, lie to me. Of course, man.”
“He talks about her quite a bit. He definitely has a thing for her. But dude, I did too when I first met her.”
I growled. “Fuck.”
“Chill,” he said calmly. “Quinn is not interested in him, or any guy for that matter. I know. She pushed me away. Hard too.”
“She’s not tutoring you, though.”
“Do you need me to keep an eye out?” he asked.
“Would you?” I hated to spy on her, but if Sloane was worried and felt the need to have Marcus talk to me, then I had to at least heed the warning.
“Consider it done. Hey, on another note, my mom gave me the thumbs-up if I wanted to attend the academy. I thought a lot about it and decided I’m staying at Kensington. I’m just getting to know my cousin Dustin, and I really like playing for Coach Dean, although I think he might be stepping down next year, and your cousin Kade might be taking his spot.”
Coach had been noodling on retiring when I played for him, and Kade had stepped in when Coach’s wife had gone through some medical issues. I was kind of surprised Coach hadn’t retired after last year.
“You’ll like Kade.”
“I already do. Cool-as-shit guy.”
“Agreed. I gotta run. Curfew and all. I’ll see you when I come home for Thanksgiving. Call me if Trevor tries anything with Quinn.” I ended the call, feeling like a schmuck for spying on my girl.
Ibit a nail as I sat on an exam table in the gynecologist’s office. I couldn’t believe I’d almost spilled the surprise to Maiken on the phone the night before. I’d been dying to tell him I was planning on talking to Momma about going on the pill. I’d finally drummed up the courage to have that conversation with her last week.
She’d been surprised I’d waited so long to talk to her. She had expected me to ask her before school let out my junior year. Nevertheless, she’d made the appointment the very next day.
