Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Sammy, wait,” Lexi calls, but I run from the cafeteria. If this was high school, I know people would laugh at me. A few laugh, but mostly, people are just quiet. There are fewer bullies here. I’m glad about that, at least.
In the hallway, I shoulder my bag, making for the door. I enter the parking lot when somebody yells my name—a man’s voice. I turn, thinking for a split second it might be Fletcher, but no. It’s just somebody who sounds like him. It’s his son, James, jogging over to me. He’s got a confused look on his face.
“I thought you’d like it.”
If it had come from your dad, I might have.
“Why are you doing this?” I yell, not meaning for so much pain to erupt from me. My voice is so loud. He takes a nervous step back. I wave my hand at him. “Seriously, why? What’s the point? We had one date. One. That’s it, and it was a bad date, James. You must know that.”
He nods. “I was rude and selfish, but that’s why I’m doing this. I want a second chance.”
“There wasn’t even a first chance,” I snap. “We’re not compatible. I’m not interested. I’m sorry, but I’m just not.”
“Is there someone else?” He walks right up to me, and I hate it. The closer he gets, the more similarities I can see between him and his dad. It’s the eyes, the subtle curve at the corner of his mouth. I don’t want James at all, only Fletcher.
“How is that any of your business?” I counter.
He sneers in a bullying way. “It’s just a simple question.”
“So was mine,” I snap. “Why do you care?”
He steps forward and reaches out as if he’s going to touch my hand. The idea is so gross to me, so unacceptable. Am I really going to be this man’s stepmom one day? How is that ever going to work?
He drops his hands and sighs. “The truth, Samantha? Clearly, you don’t feel the same, but I think you deserve the truth.”
I swallow. “Okay…” I don’t want to listen, but if I don’t, my imagination will fill in something far worse anyway.
“I fell for you the first moment I saw you,” he says, making my head spin and hurt. This is exactly what I wanted to hear from his dad, not from him. “The second I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me. I knew, even if it didn’t make sense, even if there were so many obstacles in our way, that I…” He pauses, emotion entering his voice. It’s so wrong. “I loved you. I knew that, no matter what—”
“No,” I interrupt. “No, James. I’m sorry. I don’t feel the same.”
“You haven’t given me a chance…”
“What’s going on?” Lexi jogs over, shooting me a look, silently asking if I need help. She joins us, turning to look at James. “What are you saying to her, James?”
“Nothing that has anything to do with you,” he scowls. “Can’t a man declare his undying love in peace?”
“You don’t even go here,” Lexi snaps, meaning the college. “This is graduating to straight-up stalker territory.”
“I can’t help if it if I feel this way,” James said.
“You’ll have to try,” I say, “because it’s never going to work. It simply isn’t.”
Lexi looks at me, frowning tightly. I know what she’s thinking without even having to ask. She’s wondering if I’ve told him about my relationship with his dad, but obviously, I haven’t done that. I wouldn’t do it without Fletcher’s blessing.
“Anything else?” Lexi says, glaring at James.
“Don’t look at me like that,” James snaps. “This isn’t the gym now.”
“Jesus, James,” Lexi replies. “I beat you in sparring once, and now you have to throw a temper tantrum for the rest of all time. You’ve pulled your stunt. Now, is there anything else?”
He grits his teeth, then shakes his head and turns away. “Nah, I’m good… for now.”
“Please don’t send me any more gifts,” I call after him as he turns and swaggers away.
Lexi places her hand on my arm, squeezing gently. “Are you good?”
“I just wish he’d leave me alone,” I whisper. “If I’m going to have a relationship with Fletcher, how the heck will it work? I can’t be James’ stepmom if he feels this way.”
“Whoa, stepmom?” Lexi asks. “Seems to me like you’re thinking way too far ahead.”
“Well, I don’t care!” I snap, hearing gunfire in my mind, remembering the barking, the haze of bullets, and the certainty I would die. “That’s how I feel and how Fletcher feels, too.”
“He’s said that, has he?” Lexi says, a challenge in her voice. “That he wants to get married one day?”
“No,” I admit.
The truth is, Lexi’s response is probably the right one. If I told Fletcher about the wedding bells ringing in my thoughts, he’d leave me unless he feels the same. Unless all that talk about what a good mother I’ll make was about us, not just some hypothetical.