trash my whole belief system then walk away.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I haven’t said anything yet.”
I blinked. “Oh. Well… But I know what you’re thinking.”
A tiny smile twitched the corner of his lips, a hint of that same smile that had halted me at breakfast. “How could you know that?” he asked, smoothing down his tie.
“Because I know your type,” I said, choosing to continue the argument instead of focusing on how looking at his smile made me want to lick my lips. “You’ve got a finance degree, you come from money and drive a sports car. You voted Republican, didn’t you?”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Is that a crime?”
“I wish,” I muttered, turning to a clean page of my notebook.
“Wow,” he said, deadpan. “Anything else about me you’d like to get off your chest?”
Suddenly, everything Alex told me came flooding into my brain. How Knightly had been jealous, judgmental, accusatory, and then Alex was suddenly expelled from high school. The memory of what Knightly had said about me at the party—what I’d
He may have been helping me out of a pretty huge bind, but I wasn’t about to trust him, despite the way he was watching me with that almost-smile, and the way one stray lock of dark hair had fallen across his forehead, begging for my fingers to push it back then continue running through his hair.
I had to ignore that and remember the rest.
He was all I had. I knew I had to play nice, so I smiled as pleasantly as possible and sat back. “Nope, I’m all done.” I glanced at his computer with my outline on the screen. “Now it’s your turn. What do you really think?”
He angled his laptop so the screen was facing me. Aside from Professor Masen’s last assignment, I’d never seen so many red strike-throughs.
This was going to be a very long semester.
Part II
Winter
“I had never loved anyone before…so I naturally thought that it was not in my nature to love. But it has always seemed to me that it must be heavenly to be loved blindly, passionately, wholly… And I would have allowed myself to be worshipped, and given infinite tenderness in return.”
From The Scarlet Pimpernel
Chapter 9
As I came down the creaky attic stair from my bedroom, I ran into Anabel leaving Julia’s room.
“Oh, hey Springer,” she said, trying to display an innocent expression, which made me instantly suspicious.
“What were you doing in there?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said, glancing into Julia’s room. “Just having a chat. Girl stuff. Have a nice Thanksgiving!” She waved her fingers and walked away. Little chats with Anabel usually included requests to borrow a pair of shoes you’d never see again, or unsolicited, unorthodox dating advice. When it came to Julia, neither was a good idea.
I rounded the corner and entered her room.
“Ready to go?” Julia asked, smiling brightly.
“Almost,” I replied, giving her a quick assessment. I’d have to ask her later what she and Anabel were discussing.
Two suitcases were open on the foot of her bed. The rest of the mattress was covered with separated stacks of clothes laid out in uniformed organization. Julia was singing to herself, methodically folding a white sweater. “You’re packed, right?” she asked.
I groaned as an answer, adjusting one ear bud as some very appropriate angry chick rock lulled in my ear.
With midterm exams over, we were now well into the meat of the winter quarter. Papers, research projects, advisory teams. Madness ahead. I’d dropped my three jobs to concentrate on school. Now was the time to focus, the big push to the end.
It was the first time I’d stepped foot in Julia’s bedroom in weeks. Despite the various piles of clothing, it was immaculate. Even with her mind intertwined with her heart, she was still as orderly as ever. I did notice that the calendar on her pink wall had not yet been turned from October to November, even though we were more than half-way through the month.
“Planning on staying forever?” I asked, eyeing the enormous pile of clothes in her suitcase.
“I wish.” She smiled wistfully.
I scooted over a pair of red jeans so I could sit. “This is going to be the longest seven days in the history of the world,” I moaned.
“So dramatic,” Julia replied. “You’ll be fine.”
“With you and Dart making kissing faces to each other over the turkey and cornbread stuffing, not to mention the other inhabitant of that house.”
Julia lifted her eyebrows at me. She’d been packing all morning. Anabel was heading out any minute, spending the week with her family. I seldom left for holidays anymore. My brothers were also staying away at school, and last I heard, Mom was going on a nature retreat, probably not even realizing it was Thanksgiving. I didn’t want to spend another holiday in my tiny hometown, didn’t need another reminder of what my life might be like if I didn’t succeed in college, if I didn’t get out and make something of myself in the world. I loved my mother, but I did not want to end up like her.
I should have gone on vacation with Mel, who was driving up to her grandparents’ house in Washington. She’d invited me, but I turned her down.
Julia actually
That was, until we learned that one of our landlord’s other rentals had termites, so all of his properties were being fumigated over the long break. The exterminator was arriving early tomorrow. Those of us who were remaining in town were forced to stay elsewhere while the toxic spray did its thing.
Julia was singing again, stowing her makeup bag in the small outside pocket of her second suitcase.
“What’s that there?” I asked when my eye caught a piece of black lace tucked in a corner.
“Oh.” Julia covered it with a sweatshirt. “It’s nothing,” she said, looking down, moving more clothes around. “Just something from Anabel.”
“Is it lingerie?”
“No. Well, sort of.” She tucked some hair behind an ear. “It’s nothing, really. I probably won’t ever wear it.”
She seemed so embarrassed, I almost laughed. “Bunny, it’s none of my business what you wear for your boyfriend; just be careful about what Anabel gives you, whether it’s a push-up bra or relationship advice.”
“I will. And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“You really like Alex,” she said. “Or should I
