Hadleigh smirks. “I don’t know. Erectile dysfunction?”
My eyes go really wide as I choke on the water I’d just sipped. I shake my head, alternately coughing and laughing. Okay, she’s definitely feeling a little better. “No. The correct answer is indigestion. An Ohio physician named John Cook somehow thought tomatoes would do the trick. Thanks for almost making me die, though.”
She grins. “No problem. And that’s really weird. Tomatoes are really acidic. They actually give me heartburn sometimes.”
“Right?” I shake my head. “I thought that was a pretty weird one. Maybe that was Dr. Cook’s evil plan, though.”
Hadleigh laughs. “Sounds like Dr. Cook was out to make money off of people who didn’t have brains enough to think about what they were ingesting.”
With a laugh of my own, I say, “I think you may be right.” I pop a fry into my mouth, studying her as she continues to shake ketchup out of the bottle. “Here.” I hold out my hand, and she reluctantly gives it to me. “You have to smack it right here.” I give the bottle a good whack right on the “57” imprinted on the bottle and ketchup flows out.
A slow smile spreads across her face. “How do you know these things? Thank you.”
I shrug. “I pay attention to things I like.”
“And you like ketchup?”
“I do. And I like you.”
She blushes.
“I might more than like you.”
She looks down at the food on her plate for a second. “Sawyer, I’m beginning to think maybe you’re too good for me. Like maybe I’m going to drag you into all of my crap, and you’re going to regret it.”
I wipe my hands on the napkin in my lap. “Why don’t you leave that up to me to decide? Nothing that happened today has scared me away. You and me? We aren’t a mistake. I guarantee it.” I wink at her, and her blush deepens. “So, put that idea right out of your head. I want to know more about you, crap and all.”
She heaves a sigh and drags a few fries through her ketchup, but doesn’t bother to put them in her mouth. “My mom loved the spa package, by the way. Thank you for the suggestion.”
“Good.” I take a big bite of my burger and make it clear with a raise of my brows that I’m waiting for her to continue.
“I don’t think I’ve told you this—I left home just about as soon as I could manage it, right out of high school. I didn’t even stay the summer. I was desperate to be somewhere I wasn’t Karen Beckett’s daughter.”
“Tell me more about her.”
She presses those pretty lips of hers together for a second, and then finally lets it all tumble out. “I love my mom, Sawyer, but she had me really young and raised me alone. It’s almost like she forgot I was her daughter and she was supposed to be taking care of me instead of the other way around. She’d talk to me about all the guys she was dating as if I were her girlfriend or sister. She always picked guys who didn’t treat her right. Real assholes.” She finally eats a few fries while I take another bite of my burger. I want her to keep talking. Her shoulders lift and fall. “It would appear I didn’t get away without inheriting some of her tendencies.” She sighs. “I’d like to learn from my mom’s mistakes, but I fear I haven’t. I seem to surround myself with the wrong people.” She pauses, thinking. “Well, not all of them. My friends are good. You’ve met Zoey, Madison, and Piper. There’s also Sophia and Quinn from the science department.”
I grimace. “Sounds like what you really meant is that you tend to pick the wrong men. That’s what you’re getting at, right?”
She slides her milkshake my way. “Want some?”
“Sure.” I pick up the fountain glass and take a slow sip as I eye her, willing her to answer me. Nope, not happening. “Mm. That’s very good, but are you trying to distract me with your milkshake?”
“No. I just don’t know what to say about it. The evidence would imply that yes, I pick the wrong men. That I’m a poor judge of character.” She plays with her napkin for a second, thinking. She visibly swallows. “I’ve never admitted this before … but maybe I choose men I know it won’t work out with because I don’t think I deserve better.”
I raise my brows. “Wow, okay.” I stop to think for a second, wondering if she thinks I’m one of those guys that she thinks it won’t work out with. Studying her, I chew on the inside of my mouth. “Hadleigh, I hope you don’t think I’m like these other assholes you’ve dated. In fact, I promise you I’m not. I’d like to think I’m the right one for you. And maybe there’s some hard stuff happening right now, but we’ll figure it out.” I reach out and grab one of her hands where it rests on the table. “You deserve everything. Every. Fucking. Thing. No matter what, whether it’s me or someone else. Hadleigh, you deserve to be happy.”
She nods and draws in a ragged breath. She’s blinking a lot, and I think she’s trying hard not to let her emotions get the best of her. “I’d started to think I’d never find anyone who actually cared about me, so thank you for saying that. And now that I’ve found you …” She gets a little choked up, and her voice trails off.
Her emotional torment causes me physical pain; my chest is so tight I can hardly breathe. I squeeze her hand in mine, urging her to finish her thought.
She looks up at me, her eyes glassy. “I’m very worried about what Ed’s next move is going to be. He’s still
