Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
So I nod to Eli and force a smile. “Sounds great!” I say a little too enthusiastically.
Tabitha looks up, clearly surprised at my eagerness. I meet her gaze and smile.
Ralph nods from across the table. “No anchovies,” he says.
Tabitha and Eli agree, so I don’t bother telling them that I personally love anchovies. Sage says they’re disgusting, calls them stinky, hairy fish. She won’t let me get them on one half of a pizza because she says they pollute the whole thing. I’ve been getting my own personal pizzas since high school.
I risk another glance toward Jason, but he’s no longer at his table. I spot him by the cafeteria exit. He glances back over his shoulder. Our eyes meet once more.
Then he’s gone.
A sense of emptiness fills me, like he took something away with him when he left. My appetite vanishes, and I push my tray away. Eli’s discarded salad was disgusting anyway.
“Angie, are you sure you’re okay?” Ralph’s voice breaks through my thoughts.
I glance at him, taking in his furrowed eyebrows and concerned eyes. I force another smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.” The lie tastes bitter on my tongue. “Just not very hungry.”
“I swear this cafeteria food gets worse every day.” Eli grimaces at his half-finished sandwich. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to eat, Angie.”
I laugh weakly. Eli, of all of us, looks like he could stand to gain a few. He’s skinny as a rail.
“You’d think they might have more organic offerings,” Tabitha says. “I mean, what if I were vegan?”
“Are you?” Ralph asks.
“No, and it’s a good thing.” She thins her lips. “Though I don’t eat a lot of meat.”
I glance at her half-finished sandwich, which appears to be turkey.
I say nothing.
Eli starts talking about what we should study tonight, but my thoughts are consumed with Jason. His smile, his touch, his kiss—every single moment replays over and over in my mind.
“So what do you think, Angie?” Tabitha asks me.
I jerk back to reality. “Sorry. What?”
“For study group tonight. Pizza. What about your place?”
“My place?”
“I’ve got two roommates, Eli lives in his grandmother’s basement, and Ralph—”
“I live in a tiny studio where I can barely turn around,” Ralph interrupts. “Where do you live?”
I guess it’s time to admit that I live in a gorgeous townhome a mile away from campus that I purchased on my own. Except not on my own. With my trust fund. It’s got three bedrooms and a tiny yard for my miniature schnauzer, Tillie.
And yeah, it will be perfect for our study group.
“Sure. My place is good.”
“Where is it?” Tabitha asks.
I rattle off the address.
Ralph widens his eyes. “That’s in Breckenridge Knoll.”
“Yeah,” I say.
“It’s a gated community,” he says.
My cheeks burn, but why should I be embarrassed that I live alone in a gated community?
“It is,” I say. “Is that a problem?”
He doesn’t respond.
“Sounds perfect,” Tabitha says. “What time should we pop by?”
I check my watch. “How about six? We can make the pizza our dinner.”
“Does that work for you guys?” Tabitha asks, nodding to Eli and Ralph.
“Sounds great.” From Eli.
Ralph stays silent.
I know the look on his face. I’ve seen it before.
He doesn’t like rich people. He thinks we’re all entitled snobs.
But he can think whatever the hell he wants. I got over those prejudices long ago.
Chapter Six
Jason
Kissing Angie was a huge mistake.
An even bigger mistake is stalking her online.
Her socials are pretty straightforward. She has a sister named Sage, brothers named Henry and David. Tons of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and damn…
She’s a member of the Steel family. The Steels pretty much own the Western Slope of Colorado. And here she is living in Boulder, going to medical school.
A rich girl. A trust-fund baby.
Everything I certainly never was.
I paid my own way through medical school and ended up six figures in debt. It’s paid off.
From funds I would gladly give back.
I’m feeling something, though.
Something I haven’t felt since Lindsay.
Whatever it is, I need to flatten it now. She’s a student, and I’m her teacher.
Not only would I risk losing my job if I got involved with her, but my own ethics won’t allow it.
Which doesn’t explain why I’m stalking her on her socials right now.
I don’t like the way she made me feel.
Yet I yearn for the way she made me feel.
It’s been so long.
I close my laptop. Enough of this shit. Besides, I have an appointment.
Thursday afternoons—or evenings, depending on my schedule—I always go to the same place.
It’s a chilly January day, but that doesn’t matter to me.
Nothing will keep me from visiting my wife and daughter.
I put on my down jacket, my muffler, my leather gloves, and I leave the medical school and get into my car.
I drive a Prius. I’ve never been the ostentatious type. Even when I was a sought-after general surgeon, I put most of my money away. We did splurge on a beautiful two-story home, but I sold it after…