Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Another pause. “Sure, you can talk to Lily, but like I said, this is Winter’s decision.” She holds the phone out to my mom. “She wants to talk to you.”
Mom takes the phone, and they have a brief conversation that consists mostly of yes, no, and we can talk more about it at lunch before she ends the call and passes the phone back to Rose. “She said she’ll hold off until we have more information.”
“Seems reasonable.” Rose pockets her phone, but a few seconds later it goes off with a siren sound. “Uh, we need to get to work.”
Dad addresses Winter. “BJ is right. This is about what you want and what you decide is best for you, okay?”
Winter nods. “Okay.”
“Can I get a minute with Winter before you go?” I ask, looking to my parents. “If we’re done here, that is?”
“We’re done for now,” Mom says.
“We’ve got fifteen minutes, and it only takes five to get to Boones.” Rose thumbs over her shoulder. “We’ll wait in the car.”
“I can drive Winter to Boones,” I offer.
“Your dad and I want to have a conversation with you, so it’s better Winter goes with the girls,” Mom says.
Yeah. I knew I wasn’t getting off that easily. “Let’s take your stuff back upstairs.” I tug on Winter’s sleeve, and we grab her bags.
As soon as we’re in her room, I close the door.
“What the hell just happened?” Winter rubs her temple.
“Welcome to family discussions at the Ballistic house. I’m sorry about the living-arrangement thing. The idea popped in my head and came out of my mouth without a lot of thought. I can totally appreciate that you might want to live with your teammates, and I see the validity in that option. You’d be on the same schedule, you’d have lots in common—maybe that’s the better choice.”
“So you don’t want me living two doors down?” She arches a brow.
“I want what you want. And maybe that’s a copout answer. But I want you to do what’s best for you. And if that’s living with your teammates, that’s what you should do. If you’d rather live with Lovey and Lacey and River, that’s cool too. But I feel like you’ve had enough of other people making choices for you, and I don’t want to do that.”
She pats my chest. “Thank you. I appreciate that, and I can see that everyone just wants what’s best.”
“Are you okay? I mean, besides figuring out where you’re living in the fall.”
She nods. “That was the opposite of what I expected. I honestly thought you had your head up your ass and I was going to get kicked out.”
I laugh. “My parents are easygoing.”
“Yeah. I’m learning that.”
I run my hands down her arms. “Take some time to think things through, and don’t let Rose pressure you either way. It’s really whatever you feel most comfortable with, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.” She blows out a breath. “The last twenty-four hours have been a bit of a roller coaster.” She runs her hands over my chest. “Last night was… You were… It was great. And then this morning happened, and I expected the worst, like you said, and that didn’t happen at all. So yeah. Processing time would be good.”
“Fair. We can talk tonight?”
“Yeah. Oh. Wait. It’s my teammate Shawna’s birthday, and I got invited out. Or maybe I shouldn’t go.”
“You should go. Definitely. They’re your team, and you should celebrate with them. We’ve got time to figure everything out.”
“Okay. Yeah. I should probably go. And I should go to work too.”
“Can I kiss you first?”
She nods, so I wrap my arms around her and keep it mostly chaste.
She pulls away first. “I really need to go so we’re not late for work on top of everything else.”
“Fair. I’ll text you later, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
I walk her out to Lovey’s car. Rose is sitting in the middle of the back seat, leaning forward as Winter sits in front. I don’t even want to know what that conversation will be like.
My mom is in the kitchen, rummaging through her purse, when I come back down the hall. “How’s Winter doing?” she asks.
“A bit overwhelmed, but okay.”
“That’s reasonable. She seemed shocked that we weren’t angry.”
I grab a banana from the fruit bowl. “I think there’s some archaic belief systems in her house—very patriarchal and, based on what we’ve seen, highly misogynistic. It’s going to take Winter some time to adjust her expectations and reactions. She’s used to things falling apart.”
Mom nods. “How are you handling all of this?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not just change for Winter; it’s change for you too. First girl I’ve seen you serious about since senior year of high school.”
I blow out a breath. “Can we not talk about that?”
Mom arches a brow. “Not wanting to talk about something usually means you should.”