“It felt like the longest freshman year ever,” I said, trying to keep my voice under control. The emotion of J’s losing battle threatening to stop me in my tracks, but I knew I had to get this out. Make her understand.
“I get that. It was a long year for me too, not being here.”
I nodded and ran my thumb along her soft palm, loving that she instinctively curled her fingers into mine.
“So yes, that image of you, from the first few classes, was some sort of talisman to us both. And I could not fucking believe my eyes—and my luck—when I walked into my house and saw you sitting at our bar.”
“Yeah, that’s crazy when you think of it. Or maybe not. Bribury’s not that big.”
“Which is why it became such a game last year. Whereisshe?”
Her mind was working, and I could tell she was coming up with something, but I wasn’t sure what else there was.
“That night at dinner with your parents… Your mom’s attitude toward me seemed to change midway through. Not that she was mean or anything, it’s just that…”
Right.My mom. That part. “Yeah, she knew. She’d be in J’s room sometimes when we were talking. Especially if it was while he was at chemo or something. She got in on it too. At dinner she picked up on my clues, and tone, I guess, that you were the one. You wereThe Girl.”
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or pissed,” she said softly.
“Not flattered, because it wasn’t really about you. Yeah, I was attracted to you from the start and had planned to ask you out. So be flattered about that, if you want. But what you became to us was not about you at all. Not the real Megan.”
She nodded. “So, pissed?” It was definitely a question, not a statement, for which I was grateful.
I shook my head. “No. Not that either. Because from the moment you put your hand on my chest and asked to go to my room, the phantom from freshman year disappeared and it was all you. Megan. The real Megan.”
She studied me, tilting her head to the side, as if checking for cracks in my story. But there were none. I’d laid it—myself—bare.
“Good answer,” she said, giving me a smile that was both brilliant and shy.
“Thank Christ for that,” I said, revealing just how deep I was in.
Into Megan Gaffney.
Chapter27
Megan
“Hey, Megan, wait up,”I heard from behind me. I stopped to see Jane and Lily walking my way.
“Going to or from class?” Lily asked when they reached me.
“From. I’m done for the day,” I said. Friday classes behind me, the weekend ahead of me. Logan was at Princeton for two nights, and would be back in the wee hours Saturday night/Sunday morning after getting on the bus after the game. So the weekend would be a good chance for me to catch up with the girls, study, and basically do the living things that I’d barely attended to since the first night I’d slept at Logan’s house. And I could start with Jane and Lily.
“Us too. Want to get a coffee or something?” Lily asked.
“We were going to hit the Starbucks at the Union,” Jane added.
I nodded and followed behind them. They chatted about this and that as we made our way to the Union. “Seems weird to be outside here in the day, and not trolling for you after your group,” Jane said when we passed the sidewalk where she and Stick had picked up Logan and me.
We entered the Union and headed for the Starbucks, which was in the front of the building, not in the back with the rest of the food court. Someone knew that coffee needed to be front and center for students passing by. We got our drinks and sat in one of the several small groupings of comfy seats. Jane and Lily shared a loveseat while I sat in a chair facing them. It was the same style of chair that we had for our group upstairs.
“About what you said outside, seeing the place where you picked us up. How did you know I’d be there?” I asked. It was something that I’d wondered for weeks.
“Random chance the first time. But then when you talked about where you’d been, and that it was a weekly thing, we made a point to look for you on other Wednesdays. I mean, if we were out already. We didn’t make a point to leave the apartment and start searching the streets for you or anything.”
Jane must have told Lily about our side trips, because she listened with no confusion on her face while she sipped her latte.
“We actually missed you one other time,” Jane said.
