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My breath hitches, and a rush of heat travels up my neck all the way to my hairline.
Swimming? Alone? In bathing suits? What if he’s planning on skinny-dipping on our first date?
Every time I blink, the list flashes behind my eyelids, and I shake my head, replacing the images with thoughts of Caleb’s glistening abs. Nicole’s a lot of things—pushy, obnoxious, spoiled—but she’s not a liar.
“If you’d rather, we could go eat or something instead, but I figured you might . . .” He shrugs, a secret smile curving his lips. “I guess I thought a late-night swim would be romantic.”
My heart melts. “It would.”
“Then it’s settled. See you Wednesday night.” He looks at me from under his lashes, and I’m done for.
Weirdest. Monday. Ever.
First Tyler, then Caleb, then a guy from my physics class that I’ve never spoken to approaches me in the quad. He spends several minutes staring into the abyss of my unimpressive cleavage while asking me inane questions about an assignment I’m certain he understood far better than I ever could. I get the distinct impression he wants to ask me out but doesn’t have the balls to do it. After running out of questions, he wanders back to his friends and exchanges what looks like a wad of cash. Whatever they bet on, he lost.
Hiding my distinctive red hair under my hoodie, I head back to Delta Sig house, vowing to interrogate Nicole the moment I see her.
On the ten-minute walk home, I ignore three FaceTime calls from my mother. After the day I’ve had, I’m terrified of what she might want. But as I punch in the front door code, my phone goes off again—her fourth attempt in a matter of minutes—so I reluctantly drag the slider to accept.
When her face pops onto the screen, she’s sitting on the sofa, bawling her eyes out. Black tracks streak down her splotchy red cheeks like skid marks on asphalt, and crumpled tissues surround her like a sea of wilted rose petals. I recognize the end credits for 10 Things I Hate About You playing in the background, and I don’t need to see the Blu-ray cases to know A Knight’s Tale and Brokeback Mountain are somewhere close by.
Must be something bad if she broke out the Heath Ledger collection.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
She plucks a thick manila envelope from somewhere off-camera and clutches it to her chest before blowing her nose again.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, nothing.” She lets out a heavy breath. “Only the final divorce papers. I’m officially a single woman.”
“You okay?”
She nods but won’t make eye contact, and I know dragging her out of her funk will take more than a brick of chocolate and a box of wine.
Time to pull out the big guns.
“So . . .” I suck in a quick breath and go for it, like pulling off a Band-Aid. “I’ve decided you were right.”
Her gaze snaps to mine, her curiosity piqued.
“I’ve decided to put myself out there . . . You know, date. In fact, I have two scheduled this week. And if it feels right—”
Mom drops the envelope into her lap and squeals. “Don’t forget to bring condoms—”
“Slow down. I’m not finished.” I roll my eyes. “If it feels right, I’ll consider taking the next step.”
Her cherry-lacquered lips spread into a wide smile, and she swipes at her eyes, smearing the black across her cheeks as if preparing for battle. “That’s all I want, honey—for you to experience life while you’re young. Don’t save yourself for a handsome prince who’ll only rip out your heart and stomp on it like a flaming bag of dog crap.”
“No handsome princes. I promise.” Deep down, I know she’s talking about my dad, but I don’t have it in me to explore my feelings on the subject.
Her troubles forgotten, she sits cross-legged on the sofa. “Tell me about your date.”
“Dates.” I put extra emphasis on the s, and her eyes light up. “Two different guys asked me out, so I have a date on Tuesday night and another on Wednesday. But just because I’m going out doesn’t mean I’ll sleep with either of them.”
“I know, dear.” Her sly grin grows bigger. “But just in case, make sure you put a fresh strip of condoms in your purse. Even the most experienced boys often come ill-prepared.”
She snickers at her raunchy play on words, and my cheeks ignite.
