Page 19 of Seeds of Christmas
“I’m driving through a snowstorm with thousands of dollars’ worth of university equipment in the back. Thinking is my duty.”
“Uh-huh.” He stretches, yawning. “Okay, Professor. How about a game? Keep us awake.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Okay, like...?”
“Two truths and a lie.”
I laugh. “You’re kidding.”
“You’ve never played?”
“Not since freshman year. I don’t go out much.”
Because Matthew wouldn’t have liked it. Not one bit. He wouldn’t have said it outright, though. But he’d be cruel to me for the next few days. Wouldn’t answer my texts. Wouldn’t call.He’d let me know in his own way that this wasnothow his girlfriend should be behaving.
“Perfect. Time to relive your wild youth.”
I sigh, but the corner of my mouth betrays me. “Fine. But I’m driving, so I go second. You start.”
“Deal.” He taps the steering wheel, pretending to think. “Alright. One—I once got banned from a bowling alley for life. Two—I’ve been to seven countries. Three—I broke my wrist rescuing a kitten.”
I glance at him. “The bowling alley thing sounds way too specific to be fake.”
“Maybe that’s why it’s the lie.”
“Hmm.” I take another second. “You don’t strike me as the world-traveling type. I’m guessing the countries one’s the lie.”
He grins. “Incorrect. Seven countries, baby. My parents love to ‘broaden horizons.’ The kitten story is fake. I’m allergic.”
“You’re allergic to cats? You just plummeted in my personal ranking.”
“Tragic. My one goal in life is to score high in that.” He smirks. “Alright, your turn, Miss Serious Science.”
I grip the wheel tighter, pretending to think. “Okay… One—I got caught sneaking into a lecture hall after hours to use the spectrometer. Two—I once dyed my hair blue for an entire summer. Three—I’ve never been drunk.”
Carter lets out a short laugh. “That last one’s the lie.”
I hesitate just long enough for his grin to grow. “Nope. That one’s true.”
“Bullshit.”
“Believe what you want.” I hide my smile behind a sip from my travel mug. “I’m an upstanding citizen.”
He squints at me. “Okay, first of all, no one who says ‘upstanding citizen’ has ever been one. Second, you totally dyedyour hair blue. I can imagine it now. ‘Screw you, mom! I’m sixteen now and I can do what I like, you can’t stop me!’”
I laugh at his impression of teenage me. It’s scarily close to the truth.
“Wrong again. It was purple. For three days. I looked like really a bad anime character.”
He bursts out laughing—real, full laughter that fills the truck and makes something in my chest warm. “Oh my god, that I need to see.”
“There are no photos.”
“There are definitely photos.”
“There are not.”
“Challenge accepted.”
