“Thanks, and again, I’m so sorry.” She turned, and Gideon exhaled as she walked toward the door. She stopped as she passed her desk, and his heart jump-started as he imagined her turning back.
She didn’t. Megs stared at something on her phone, unmoving besides the swipe of her thumb over the screen. When she finally lifted her head, her brow was furrowed and her green eyes flashed.
“Anything you’d like to tell me, Professor Adams?”
Gideon frowned, and his grip tightened on his laptop bag. There was plenty he’d like to tell her. How he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her all weekend. How he’d been planning to come into the coffee shop until her name was still there on his roster. But she was his student, so there wasn’t any of that he could share.
Megs dropped her bag and stalked toward the front of the room, holding out her phone. “Care to explain why your name is next to mine on the finalist list for Oscar Calloway’s audiobook competition?”
Nine
Megs stared at Gideon,her thoughts reeling. Had he seriously stood there saying nothing while she apologized for withholding information when he hadn’t mentioned that he’d also auditioned for the competition? He’d been in the recording studio with her while she’d recorded those lines. They’d spent hours together at the burger place, and he’d never once thought to mention that the reason he was familiar with the audition material was because he’dalso recorded it?
“You were upset that I didn’t tell you my class wasn’t officially dropped, but you watched me audition and didn’t say a thing?” Megs dropped her hand and slipped her phone into her back pocket. “Or did you audition after I told you about it?”
That seemed even more horrifying. She’d been romanticizing that night with him—that kiss— and really he’d only been trying to get information from her so he could use it to his advantage?
“I submitted it that same night, and it’s not—” Gideon ran a hand through his hair. “I should’ve said something.”
“You think?” Megs folded her arms in front of her.
“It didn’t—I didn’t think it was relevant.”
Megs scoffed. “What could’ve been more relevant, Professor? I was recording the audition with youin the room.”
“I told you I’d seen the audition sides.”
Megs chewed the edge of her lip. “Well, I told you I was going to drop the class.”
Gideon shook his head. “That’s not the same—”
“It’s exactly the same! You only gave me part of the story. I just can’t figure out why you wouldn’t tell me the rest.” Megs inspected his face, and her stomach sank. Had it been something to do with her audition? Had he thought her audition wasn’t good enough to warrant a discussion on the topic?
“I didn’t want to audition. I did it for a friend.”
Megs waited. She wasn’t going to walk away this time. “Why would you audition for a friend?”
Gideon pushed up his glasses. “I grew up with Matt—Oscar. He asked me to audition, and I didn’t especially want to, but he was so insistent that I submitted something.” He motioned to her phone. “Can I see that again?”
Megs pulled it out and opened the screen, then zoomed in on the picture Haley had sent her of the finalist list. Apparently, it was posted on the city website, but this had been on the door of the hair salon in town, which meant it could’ve been posted in other places. If Haley knew about it, there was a good chance her mom had seen it too.
But had Gideon just said that Oscar was his friend?The Oscar Calloway?And had he called him by a different name?
Gideon took the phone and read the names on the list, his frown deepening.
“What? Shouldn’t you be excited?”
Gideon blinked and handed the phone back to her. “Half that list is made up of people we were in college with, so I'm not sure how to feel about it.”
“We? As in you and Oscar?” Or Matt? Was that his real name? Megs knew nothingabout this author besides the fact that he was popular enough that the women in Sugar Creek were following this competition closer than the last episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.
“It’s a long story.”
“I would say we could talk about it, but since I’m now your student, you apparently can’t discuss anything with me other than soundproofing.”
Gideon gave her a look. “Are you shaming me for keeping university policy?”
Megs scoffed. “I would never.”
