Page 64 of Her Forever SEAL

“I applied to Columbia University at the last minute, and got in. Dad’s going to freak if he thinks all I’m doing is following a guitar player to New York.”

Kayla sighed. She could totally see that. They pulled up to her house.

“Want me to come in?” Kathleen asked.

“No, I’ll just be a minute.”

Kayla let herself inside, and was surprised to see her mom wasn’t up. She ran upstairs and checked her bedroom, and didn’t see her. She pulled out her phone, then saw that her mother had texted last night and said she was spending the night at Aunt Lydia’s.

Kayla strode to her bedroom, suited up, pulled on some rain gear, and grabbed her equipment bag, then headed outside, making sure to lock up behind herself.

“What’d your mom say, is she coming later?”

“She’s at your aunt’s. I mean your real aunt’s. My honorary aunt’s.” Kayla grinned over at her.

“All of Midnight Delta are real aunts and uncles,” Kathleen said as she backed out of the driveway.

Kayla smiled at that thought. She was lucky. And so was Bree.

Cat found her in the warmup and fell into step beside her immediately.

“Okay,” Cat said, without preamble. “I need you to know I'm fine and I'm not nervous and everything is completely under control. Just because Bree and Mandy aren’t here so I can hide behind them, doesn’t mean anything.”

“Great,” Kayla said.

“I mean, I’m great at lacrosse.”

“You are.”

“I mean, I should always be a starter.”

“You should.”

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

Kayla looked sideways at her friend and shook her head. “You are an idiot. You cannot ruin the grass by throwing up, that’s just gross. You’re right, you’ve always been starter material. Today you’re going to show Coach exactly what you’re made of.”

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Language.”

Cat laughed.

“You’re going to score a goal today.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’m serious.”

“You don't know that.”

“Cat.” Kayla looked at her. “I'm going to put it right where you need it. All you have to do is finish. Okay?”

Cat held the ball for a moment. She looked at the goal at the far end of the field. She exhaled. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Kayla held out her stick. Cat tapped it with hers. “Let's go.”

The first half was grinding. The other team was good. Actually, they were better than good. And their defense was kicking their ass, which meant Kayla spent most of the half working the outside and looking for seams that weren't quite there.