Page 106 of Thrown for a Loop
“No.” His voice is low but firm. “No, you wouldn’t have, Zoe.”
“What do you mean?” I shout, and my face is really wet somehow. “I would have doneanything.”
He shakes his head, looking more sad than angry. “Anything except stand up to your family.”
I gasp, outraged. “Like they ever listened to me! I tried to make it all my fault. You weren’tthere!”
“Oh, I was,” he says, his voice thick. “I was ready to lose my job so we could have one night together. You were worth it. But when it fell apart, you didn’t even try to hold the line. The second your mom asked, you folded like a cheap lawn chair. Then I spent the day in a police interrogation room. And my whole life caught fire.So forgive me if it’s hard for me to trust my memory of the better times.”
Then suddenly he stands and exits my apartment in two paces.
The door slams hollowly as he goes, and the last thing I hear is his footsteps on the stairwell.
Chapter 36
Nine and a Half Years Ago
That night in the tent, Zoe falls asleep to the soundtrack of crickets and with Chase’s hand stroking her hair. She wakes only once in the night, wondering why she’s so warm. It’s because Chase lies flush at her back, his arm curled securely over her hip. She kicks the covers off her feet and falls quickly into a dreamless sleep.
She’d happily stay there. But now someone is shaking her gently. “Wake up, beautiful. We have to get going or we’ll be late. Sister Walsh would have me executed.”
Her mother’s grumpy face swims into her consciousness, and that does the trick. Zoe sits bolt upright. “Oh God, are we late? My phone didn’t go off.”
“I’m not sure why mine is dead,” Chase says. “Maybe because the signal is so sketchy. But it’s okay—I ran out to the truck to check the time, and it’s only seven. If you get up fast, I’ll drive through Dunkin’ and buy us a couple of coffees.”
She flops back down onto the pillow, heart racing. She doesn’t want to leave this bed or this tent. Maybe ever. “I’m not ready.”
Chuckling, he moves the hair away from her neck and kisses the spot just below her ear. Then he blows a raspberry.
She groans. “Why are you so cheerful?”
“I’m a morning person.”
“It’s kind of irritating,” she grumbles.
“That’s what the boys of entryway F think, too. Although I never kiss them good morning or offer to buy them coffee.”
“They would enjoy both of those things.”
He laughs. “I know, right? Come on.” He pulls the covers back. “You don’t want to get me in trouble.”
It’s true, and it’s a sobering thought. So Zoe gets up and gets dressed. Her body is pleasantly sore in a few new places, and when she thinks about last night, she feels her face heat, but in a nice way.
Thirty minutes later, they’re approaching the college in Chase’s truck. He’s humming along with the radio, and she’s clutching her coffee cup, admiring the way his arm muscles flex as he holds the steering wheel.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks him.
He glances over with a quick smile. “You. And all my thoughts are R-rated. What are you thinking about?”
“Well, our cover story.”
He laughs. “You’re smarter than I am. How do you want to play this? My parking pass is for the Filbert lot, but I could drop you anywhere you want.”
“Just park at the far edge of the Filbert lot, and let me go inside first,” she says. “I need more prep time than you.” She’s already wearing her workout clothes, because she knew it would look odd if she rolled into the dorm in a dress. But she needs to work on her hair.
“Deal,” he says. “And if for some reason they noticed one of us was gone, let’s review our story.”
“We went running together. Early,” she says. “To see the sunrise.”
