Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Right up until now, she’d been thinking almost exclusively about the latter knot. How tight it had cinched when Robbie said, No one should ever touch you like this, unless you asked, okay? And then proceeded to hype her up over that cringey pickup line.
This guy . . . surprised her?
A lot of things about today were surprising her. Like how comfortable the occasional silence was between them as they drove. How she felt ever so slightly more confident in herself as a potential romantic partner for someone since he showed up—a very different kind of confidence than the type she’d developed as an athlete. The kind she’d pretended not to want for a really long time, usually while sitting on her couch Friday nights wondering if she was missing out on an important part of being young. Or if she was too uptight to relax and allow herself to be in a mood for flirting. Romance.
And as she put her Honda in park in the driveway of her parents’ giant, log-cabin-style home, nestled among the trees, the third type of knot started to harden and fossilize in her midsection—and Skylar was glad not to be alone.
When she made no move to exit the car, Robbie looked at her. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? You’ve been holding my hand for the last mile. I’m not complaining,” he rushed to add. “They might have to amputate due to an extended loss of circulation, but at least it’s my left hand. I can probably still play hockey with some minor adjustments—”
His words sunk in gradually through the anxiousness and she let go of him abruptly. “Oh. God. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He closed that hand into a tight fist. “Are you worried about pulling this dating ruse off?”
“Of course, I am. But mainly . . .” She pulled in a breath, searching the windows of the house for signs of life. “My family is a lot.”
“We’re here for a wilderness competition, Rocket. I gathered that.”
Weirdly pleased that he’d kept up, a brief smile tilted her lips, even if the tightness in her chest had started to gather again. “I told you how this is a second marriage for my parents, right? I was so little when my mother divorced my biological father, I don’t even remember what he was like in person. He moved back to the West Coast to be closer to family and over the years, we sort of drifted. Our communication slowed down throughout high school and now it’s almost nonexistent, even if he still sends birthday cards. But sometimes . . . I wonder if I’m more like him than Doug and Vivica. Elton.”
He didn’t say anything right away. “Keep going.”
“Well.” She slicked a hand down her ponytail. “I am competitive, just like them. You know this. But I don’t always keep up. Or I don’t feel like I gelled as easily as they did.”
“Why not?”
They weren’t even inside yet and she could see the memorabilia on the walls. Vivica even owned a set of Brown pot holders. “Us getting into Brown was all my parents talked about for the first six years of their marriage. Elton sailed right in, no problem. Played ball for them and graduated with honors. I . . . didn’t get in. I totally bumbled the interview with my admissions counselor. Even with two alumni parents and a star athlete for a brother, I got rejected.” Skylar swallowed. “When I come here for this competition now, sometimes I feel like I’m trying to prove I belong in the fold, despite . . . leaving it.”
Again, Robbie was silent for a handful of seconds. Then, “Jesus Christ, Skylar. You’re attending Boston University. That’s not exactly clown college.”
“I know. I know it’s a great school. But it’s not Brown. You’ll see what I mean.”
“You’re a perfectionist. Obviously getting a rejection is going to sting like hell, but, hey . . . I’ve been rejected, too.”
“By women?”
“God, no. By hockey teams.” He unhooked his seat belt, so he could turn more of his big body in her direction. “When I was in high school, I couldn’t break into the AAA division for three long years. My teammates and best friends moved up, but I continued to be held back. I nearly quit at one point.” His eyes softened. “Once after a particularly brutal tryout, Grandpa Nick took me to fly kites. All three of them caught the air at different times, even though he let them go all at once. That’s always stuck with me, you know? We all catch the air at different times.”
It was a rare thing, Skylar being captured so thoroughly by another person’s enthusiasm that she momentarily forgot to worry or fret about the time. What else she could be doing. There was just Robbie and his eager expression, waiting to see if his words had made an impact—