“Sorry.” Lacey shook her head and smiled. “It’s just one of those things that some people get excited about. He was born in Iowa and there’s a whole museum dedicatedtohim.”
Ugh. Why in the world was she talking about John Wayne? As if anyone outside of Iowa, or under the age of fifty, cared about The Duke. Her fingers played with the corner of the quilt as she mentally beratedherself.
“What about you?” Lacey asked quickly. “Where areyoufrom?”
Trevor shrugged, a corner of his mouth lifting. “Born and raised in Lakeland, Florida. I’ve never even left the statebefore.”
“You what?” Lacey gasped. “Seriously?”
The smile didn’t leave Trevor’s face as he answered. “I once went to Miami, and that felt like a different country or something. But, nope, Polk County boy through andthrough.”
“Does that mean you’ve never seen snow?” Lacey had always been fascinated by people who’d never seen a realwinter.
“Well, the city puts on this thing every year where they get a giant pile of snow and let kids playonit.”
Lacey laughed. “That so doesn’t count. It’s probably made by some glorified snow cone machine, right?” Trevor shrugged. “Oh, you poor, poor thing. Snow is the best thing in the whole world! Especially when it falls in the middle of the night and you wake up and look out the window and it’s just sitting thereundisturbed.”
Lacey sighed and thought back to her childhood. She would run out the front door, not even bothering to put on her jacket, in a hurry to be the first one to walk through the fresh snow. Not that there were many neighbors where she lived. She had always made sure there was at least one snow angel on the ground before her parents forced her back inside towarmup.
It was the best part of growing up in Iowa, only made better when Josh’s family bought the farm next door. It was those snowy mornings with Josh that made Lacey fall in lovewithhim.
“Wow.” Trevor’s voice brought her back to reality. “You must really miss it. You got this dreamy look onyourface.”
Lacey blushed. “Yeah, lots of good memories,” she answered, conveniently leaving out the part about Josh. Nothing good came from talking about exes on a first date, especially not ones that gave you a dreamy look on your face. “What about you? What kind of memories do you have from growing up inFlorida?”
He shrugged. “Playing out in the rain, swimming, the beach. Basically anything involving sunshine andwater.”
“And did you like doing those things as a kid?” she asked, enthralled by the vastly different histories the two ofthemhad.
“It was great. I like it here.” He paused. “I doubt I’ll everleave.”
Lacey sat up straight. “Like ever? Even after you graduate fromcollege?”
He shrugged again. “Why would I? I want to be a doctor, and so many old people move down here after they retire. I’ll always have a job if Istayhere.”
“You’repre-med?”
Trevor’s smile lit up his face. “Yep. My dad’s a doctor, my granddad was a doctor. It’s kind of the familybusiness.”
“Benson and Son’s Medical Practice,” sheteased.
He laughed at that. “Considering my dad is a gastroenterologist, I have no desire to be in practice with him. The idea of doing colonoscopies all day doesn’t soundappealing.”
Lacey winced at the thought. Yeah, that didn’t sound fun at all. And it wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on considering the two of them were still enjoying their meagerdinner.
“What about you?” Trevor asked, changing the subject. “What are you going toschoolfor?”
That was the million-dollar question—the one Lacey alwayslaughedoff.
Well, technically, it was the question that came after the one about her major—the one about her futurecareer.
Whenever people asked Lacey what she wanted to do, she drew a blank. She would wave it off like it was no big deal. In fact, it was getting to the point where Lacey almost believed that she didn’t care about what was going to happen aftergraduation.
Almost.
But deep down Lacey knew what she really wanted after college, and it had nothing to do with landing her dream career. And that was because a career wasn’t something she longed for. Lacey wanted her MRS degree. That’s right, Lacey’s big secret was she wanted to get married and start a family. Not that she could tell her parents that when they were pumping money into her fancy, private schooldegree.
With every passing year, Lacey became more nervous that it wouldn’t happen. And now she was on a date with a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old who was asking about her future plans. She couldn’t exactly tell her date that she was looking to land a husband. Even a sweet guy like Trevor would go running for thehills.
