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Meg sits up straight, her eyes wild. “I’ll call you later.” Without waiting for Ian to respond, she ends the call. “Sorry. I thought it was okay for me to be in here.”
“Of course it’s okay.” I sit on the bed beside her with a sigh. “We haven’t had a second to talk since you got here.”
“You’ve been busy, and I didn’t want to be in the way.” She gives me a small smile, her deep brown eyes warm. “I thought I’d help you and Mom in the kitchen, but she said the two of you had it, so I wandered around and ended up here. This room has always been my favorite place in the apartment.”
“Yeah, I love it too.” I tip my head to the side. “How are you?”
“I’m good. Still waiting to hear back from colleges, though, and it’s making me nervous.” She shrugs, her attention drifting off to the side. “Especially since Ian already got into GBU. I’m happy for him, I really am, but he’s gotten so smug, and honestly, he’s turned into kind of a pain in the ass.”
“He can be insufferable,” I say honestly.
Head thrown back, she laughs. “You have no idea.”
“Have you figured out what you want to do?”
She bows her head and clasps her hands. “I know what I don’t want to do. I love hockey. I always will. But I’ve seen all the sacrifices Michael has had to make for the sport, and I can’t imagine ever doing it professionally. I think I’ll stick to amateur level. Have fun with it.” She exhales, then looks up. “So I’m really, really hoping I get into NYU. They’ve got a great sports science program.”
“You want to coach?”
A wide smile spreads across her face. “Yeah. Kids.”
Matching her expression, I squeeze her hand. “You’ll be great at it. And I believe in you. Everything’s going to work out exactly the way it’s supposed to.”
“I hope so.” She sighs, her body slumping. “Do you think you could talk some sense into your idiot brother for me?”
I raise a brow.
“The girl he’s dating is bad news.” Her voice is soft, almost hard to hear, but I swear, it wavers. “Like…really bad news. But he refuses to see it.”
I frown, searching her expression for insight into what’s going on in her head. Ian and Meg’s friendship has always been just that—friendship. They love each other like siblings. Not the way Michael and I did, even when we were kids.
“Bad news how?” I ask.
Meg chews on her bottom lip, fingers drawing lines on her jeans. “She’s a bully. Not to me,” she clarifies. “She knows I can stand up for myself, but she’s terrible to other girls at school.” A sharp exhale leaves her mouth. “Ian thinks she’s just intense because she’s captain of the cheer squad. But he’s wrong. Jennifer is the fucking worst.”
I take a slow breath, considering her words. “I’ll try to talk to him. I promise.” Then, I meet her eyes. “But honestly, it’s probably best for him to make his own mistakes. That’s the best way to make sure he learns from them. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nods and then glances over my shoulder out the open bedroom door. She moves closer to me and ducks, her mouth at my ear. “Has Asher always been this hot?”
The laugh that bursts out of me comes as a surprise to both of us. That’s the last thing I expected to hear.
She frowns, lips pursing. “Forget I said anything.”
“No, sorry, sorry.” I press a hand to my chest, taking a breath. “It’s totally fine. I just…didn’t see that one coming.”
She rolls her eyes. “I guess. He’s just so different from what I remember.”
“Yes, Ash has always been good-looking,” I say easily. “Girls have always noticed.”
“Even you?”
“No.” I shake my head. “He’s always been just a friend to me.”
A smug little smile curves her lips. “Of course. You only ever had eyes for my brother. And he only ever noticed you.”
“Something like that,” I say, grinning.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she adds quickly. “I don’t want to date Asher or anything. It caught me off guard, that’s all.”
