We leave the airport and merge onto the highway for a few miles before Nate pulls off again and stops at a place called Tucker’s Onion Burgers. My stomach growls just from seeing the sign.
“Figured you probably need more than the tiny bag of peanuts for lunch. Mind?” He’s still so cautious about taking me places, and it makes my heart skip. I smile and nod, putting my hands on my belly to try to keep the growl to a minimum.
Nate takes my hand as soon as we walk to the front of the car, and he keeps it tight in his until we’re comfortably seated in a booth in the far corner of the restaurant, our trays weighed down with what may just be the most indulgent hamburger I’ve ever seen.
“I always wanted to try one of these,” he says, pulling the giant burger to his mouth with two hands and taking a big bite. “Ohhhhhh my gawwwwww.”
I can’t help but stare, and it’s different this time, because I know Nate’s not pretending to be anything for me. This isn’t him playing some game where we talk with food in our mouths—it’s just him, being comfortable around me. I’m starving, but all I want to do is watch him eat, so I let him get two more enormous bites ahead of me before I attempt to taste my own burger.
“Oh wow, this is soooo good,” I say, knowing fully well that an onion has just slid from my mouth down my chin. I try to catch it, and feel a little embarrassed, though I will never admit that to him, but Nate quickly stops me with his napkin, wiping my chin clean, and then leaning in for a kiss.
“So, my parents are coming to visit in October. They’ll be here for the Classic Tournament. My dad, he uh…he’s kind of excited to watch you play,” I say, taking short glances at Nate while I talk and pick at my fries.
“Oh yeah?” he asks, nodding, his brow a little pinched.
“Yep.” It’s quiet for a few minutes after that, and I start mentally kicking myself for only saying yep, when Nate leans back along the corner of the booth and stretches his arm out so he can look at me.
“I gotta ask. You’re not making your parents come here and having them meet me just because you feel bad, are you?” I didn’t think of it that way, but I can understand Nate’s reaction now. I had some work to do to make sure he knew I was just as ready to take this step as he was.
After taking a long drink from my soda, I push my tray away and drop my napkin on top, then turn my body so my leg is bent in the booth and I’m facing him. “No. I was supposed to go home again for fall break. But that was before,” I say, suddenly warm and anxious.
“Before I made you feel bad about not wanting me to meet your parents?” he asks.
“No. Before I realized how much I don’t like being away from you,” I say, waiting while his eyes stay on mine.
His lips smile, and whisper softly, “Oh.”
“That, and my dad Googled you,” I tease, just needing to break the tension.
“What is it with you people and cyber-stalking?”
Nate carries our trays to the trash and reaches for my hand at the door. He walks me all the way around to my side, opening the door for me while I get in, and then shuts the door softly, like I’m someone important—important to him.
Nate
I have kissed her exactly three times so far, and she hasn’t protested a single one. Once on the head, once in the elevator, and once in the middle of the best-damned hamburger I’ve ever had.
When she said her parents were coming and wanted to meet me, I felt like crap for making such a big deal out of it. But I really think she meant what she said, and I can’t help but feel hopeful that she would rather be here, in a state dozens away from her home, than go back to the place she knows.
There was still so much I wanted to know, needed to know. But I had to be careful how I extracted information from Rowe’s head, because so much of it is covered in the scars of her heart. We have an hour of nothing but conversation time, though, so I hope I can get to some of her best secrets today.
“Oh, I should warn you. Ty and Cass…first fight,” I say, still pissed that I won’t be able to talk Ty into spending the night in Cass’s room tonight. Unless, of course, things have changed from how they were when I left.
“You’re kidding? What happened?” Rowe asks.
“Well, it’s probably Ty’s fault. Like I said, my brother’s default mode is ass**le when it comes to women. Cass is really the first one he’s been with for more than a week, if you don’t count his go-to girls.”
“Ty has go-to girls? What exactly is a go-to…oh…never mind.” Her innocence was cute. I forget how little Rowe probably knows when it comes to things like that, because she can make herself seem so sure and confident.