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“But . . . but you’ve lived here since you married Dad!”
Her mom patted her hair. “Sure, there are memories here but the important stuff stays in our hearts.”
Addison pulled away, struggling to get herself back under control. The last thing her poor mother needed was a guilt trip.
“And in our scrapbooks,” she added, pointing to the stack piled high on the table.
She snorted a laugh. Leave it to her mom to bring scrapbooks into this.
All of her eggs had been in the same damn basket, and now she had nothing to fall back on. She’d have to find a buyer for the cars she would steal without Fox’s help. But as she’d discovered before they’d met, making connections like that with no one to vouch for you was easier said than done.
Addison helped her mom sort through a few shelves and craft carts, culling and reorganizing, and doing her best to make her mom laugh. Her mom was the kind of woman who always put on a brave face and tried to make life pleasant for everyone else. It sucked that Addison couldn’t figure out how to return the favor, other than trying to stay optimistic and not burdening her with her guy problems.
When she went home later that night, she still ate a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
***
Dr. Penn’s heavy footsteps creaked on the hardwood floors of the hall as his lecture went on, but Addison was skimming the manual of a Lamborghini Diablo instead.
Nikki, the girl who sat beside her, nudged her elbow.
Addison turned to look at her. “What?” she mouthed.
The blonde glared at the manual then shook her head. Yeah, Addison was getting a reputation for being a bit of a daydreamer in class. And she was pretty sure Dr. Penn was purposefully trying to catch her off guard with questions when it looked like she wasn’t paying attention. But she couldn’t help it. The material he droned on about wasn’t nearly as interesting as the stuff she researched on her own.
When Addison wanted to know something, she stopped at nothing to learn it. But all this dry, boring stuff that she’d never use in the real world, even in the engineering world, only dragged her down and wasted time.
Times like these, she really wondered if continuing school had been the right choice. But with the scholarship, it had seemed sensible at the time. More and more, she was growing restless and disinterested. Was this a normal part of the program? Something all students went through? Or was this just more of her adrenaline-seeking personality?
Later that evening, during her shift at the electronics store, Addison took apart a defective computer, pocketing parts she’d need to build a new gadget later. Dr. Penn had unknowingly given her an idea during his lecture. Since then, her brain had been going crazy with the need to build it.
“You’re a space cadet lately,” Sarah, the shift manager, said, eyeing her from the shelf where she restocked headphones. “Boy troubles?”
“No,” she snapped too quickly then winced. “I have a big test coming up.”
“Oh yeah. You’re in the engineering program, aren’t you?” Sarah flashed a sympathetic smile.
Addison nodded.
“I went there.” She ripped open a box next to her and started pulling out USB ports.
“What?”
“I went there for two years. For engineering. Same as you.”
For some reason, she figured the thirty-year-old had worked her way up to manager starting as an after-school job in high school.
“What happened?” Addison asked, trying not to sound so shocked.
“I flunked out. Couldn’t keep up a job and studying.” Sarah adjusted her ponytail then lifted the final box onto the nearby counter. “It gets harder.” She gave Addison a weary look. “Good luck.”
For a while, Addison leaned up against the computer help desk and stared at the blinking lights on the display. Was this her future? Working retail at an electronics store, pickpocketing spare parts for gadgets she’d never use?
No. She refused to go down that road without a fight.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Fox. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed him. Even if she had to sit in the background for a while, he had to come around eventually. Plus, things couldn’t be over between them already. It was just starting to get good. Really good.
They’d had a fight, she’d lost her temper, nothing they couldn’t get over. Hopefully.
