Page 36 of Stealing for Keeps
“I should probably go if I’m going to set up my new fish tank and still finish my chemistry homework.”
I nod, kind of wishing now that I hadn’t given her a reason to leave. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” She looks at Wyatt. “Have any ideas for fish names?”
He thinks hard. “I was trying to decide between Dash and Flash. I think I’m gonna go with Flash.”
“Good name.”
“You can have Dash if you want.”
“Hmm.” She nods and looks at her fish. “How about Captain Dash?”
Wyatt giggles. “That’s even better.”
She smiles at him, then me, and holds up a hand as she backs away. I watch her go, and then Wyatt and I continue perusing the games.
When Mom catches up with us, she shoots me a weary look as Wyatt shows off his new fish.
“Isn’t it great, Mom? I named him Flash!”
“Yeah…great.”
He hands the fish over to her, and she holds out the bag hesitantly.
Wyatt takes off for the next game, leaving Mom to carry Flash.
“Have you seen your sister?” Mom asks as we follow him.
“No,” I say at the same time as I hear someone yell my last name.
I swivel around until I see Vaughn standing behind me. He’s the last person I expected to track me down tonight.
He closes the distance between us, then glances between my mom and me. “Can we talk?”
My surprise makes me slow to respond.
“Yeah,” I say finally, then to Mom, “I’ll be right back.”
“Not too long. I have an early meeting tomorrow. I want to be in bed in the next hour,” she says and gives the fish another dismayed look.
With a nod and a promise that I won’t take long, I head off with Vaughn. He says nothing as we walk slowly through the carnival. Did I imagine it, or did he ask if we could talk? This is painful. Maybe he’s leading me toward some other prank. Are they going to tar and feather me next?
I shove my hands in my jeans pockets and stop walking. “What’s up?”
His jaw ticks as he stares back at me. “I didn’t send the email.”
I didn’t really think he had, but I’m sure he knew about it. I can’t think of a single thing to say in response, so I stay quiet. If he wants to talk, fine. I don’t have to talk back.
“It was a good goal,” he says, almost like it pains him to do so.
I start to smile. Jesus, is it that hard for him to give someone a compliment?
“The right thing would have been to set up another play. What you did was risky, but tonight, it paid off.”
A backhanded compliment. Okay, that’s more of what I’d expect.
“It was the only way I was going to get a shot,” I say, arching a brow. He knows as well as I do that I wasn’t getting passes from my teammates, apart from Rowan. Sure, I could have stalled and given us time to set something up, but I wouldn’t have been the one to shoot the goal, and I knew I had it.
