Zach hesitated. “I don’t know how to say this to you . . .” He stared down at the table for a moment, then back at Cade. “But, yeah. He’s a great dad. He told me that he really settled down after meeting my mom, and to me he’s always been just a normal, regular father. I mean, he’s not perfect, and this past year he rode me nonstop about getting my English grades up, but he’s my dad, you know?”
Cade looked away, focusing on a small crack on the wall. No, he didn’t know.
The waitress suddenly appeared at their table, carrying two plates. “I’ve got two plain-old, regular cheeseburgers here.”
“Thank God,” Cade said, grateful for the interruption. Whew. Things had gotten a little intense for a moment there.
The waitress smiled. “You guys are hungry, huh?” She tossed her curly brown hair over her shoulders, looking appreciatively at Cade. “Anything else I can get you?”
He had a feeling she wasn’t referring only to the lunch menu. And she was attractive, no doubt. But still . . .
“I think we’re good for now,” he told her.
“If you think of anything else, just let me know.” She sashayed off in her short black skirt, all legs and shapely, early-twenties ass.
Zach stared, wide-eyed, ketchup bottle hovering midair above his plate.
Cade reached over and casually plucked the bottle out of Zach’s hands, squirting ketchup onto his own plate for his fries.
“She is really nice . . .” Zach blinked, coming out of his daze. “Hey, you never finished your story. You said that after you got injured, you spent three months being pissed off. What happened after that?”
“I finally got tired of being angry,” Cade said. “The spring after I got injured, I was having lunch with a bunch of my former teammates, and they were talking about gearing up for the next season. I realized that I could either bitch for the rest of my life about not being a part of that, or I could start working on a backup plan. Law school seemed like a good fit.”
Zach seemed skeptical. “Sure, but, come on. Don’t tell me you don’t miss the smell of grass and gasoline and sweat.”
Cade smiled. “Now it’s the smell of a courtroom that drives me. The smell of leather briefcases and coffee and justice. Nothing quite like it, Zach.”
Now Zach looked really skeptical. “Sure.”
Cade laughed, having the sudden urge to put the kid in a headlock or something. “All right, I’m done being on the witness stand. Now it’s your turn. What’s this problem you had with your English grades?”
Zach blushed to the roots of his light brown hair. “It’s nothing. I had a harder time concentrating in that class, that’s all.”
“Why only English?”
Zach shrugged. “You know, different environment, different people . . .”
Ah. “Different people. I see.” Cade eased back in his chair, getting comfortable. “Judging from the fact that your face is about the shade of that ketchup bottle, I’d say we have one of two situations going on here: hot teacher or cute classmate. Which is it?”
“Cute classmate.”
“We can work with that. What’s her name?” Cade asked.
“Paige Chopra. She’s got this long, dark hair, and these light green eyes, and she’s really smart. Like, probably the smartest girl in my class,” Zach said.
“Green eyes and really smart, huh?” Cade asked. It sounded like he and his brother had similar tastes in more than just cheeseburgers and M&M cookies. He rested his arms on the table, ready to come up with a plan.
His kid brother was getting this girl.
“Okay, so tell me what the problem is.” He gestured to Zach. “You’re a good-looking guy, you play football. Girls like these things.”
“Not this girl,” Zach said, picking at his fries. “I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m just a dumb jock.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because whenever I’m around her, I act like a dumb jock.” Zach threw up his hands in exasperation. “I can’t help it, she makes me nervous. She sat next to me last year in English class, and every time the teacher called on me I could see Paige watching, and I wanted to say something insightful or whatever. But I choked. Every time. And since participation was forty percent of our grade, and I could barely, like, string a sentence together, I got a C. I’ve never gotten a C before.”
Zach shook his head, continuing. “I thought I’d forget about Paige over the summer, especially with . . .” He hesitated, then gestured at Cade. “You know, me tracking you down and everything. But her dad owns the ice-cream shop in my neighborhood, and she works there over the summer, so I keep going in and buying all this ice cream and trying to think of something to say. But after twelve double-scoop cones, the most I’ve gotten out is ‘Hi, Paige.’” He ran his hand through his hair. “It’s a mess, dude. I’m a mess.”
Cade sat across from his brother, the alleged mess, trying really hard to fight back a smile. In his entire life, he’d never felt so utterly smitten as Zach clearly was over Paige Chopra. He’d dated plenty of girls and women, but even as a teenager he’d been more guarded with his emotions.
Zach waited for him to say something. “You’re looking at me weird. It’s because I’m totally pathetic, right? I mean, you’re Cade Morgan. You probably never have to worry about girls, right?”