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Sophie shakes her head. “I was sure you’d turn into some massive player. People cheat, Caleb. They fight and change and get bored. You know that as well as I do.”
“We’re not our parents.” Mr. and Mrs. St. James’s marriage is about as happy as my parents’ is. That is to say, not at all. Maybe why they’re all such good friends.
“Not yet,” Sophie predicts darkly.
“You’re drunk.”
“Yep.” She smiles and takes another sip of margarita. “You should have tried one. They’re good.”
“No, thanks.”
“Should I hook up with Travis or Carter tonight, do you think?”
I roll my eyes. “No comment.”
Sophie huffs. “So, when did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you loved Lennon.”
I sigh. “Sophie…”
“I’m being serious!” she insists. “You’re the only guy I know in a long-term relationship. The only guy I know whowantsto be in a long-term relationship.”
When I look over, her expression is earnest. Like me, Sophie grew up with a terrible model for romantic relationships. Maybe she really is curious. Maybe this will finally end her flirting. I’m not sure her interest even has all that much to do with me. Sophie just likes a challenge.
“I don’t know when I was sure I loved her. My feelings just grew and grew to a point when I knew I did. But I knew Icouldlove her the first time we met. Something about her just…stuck. Remember that telescope I got in seventh grade?”
She slaps a hand on the counter. “God, yes! I forgot how much of a nerd you were when you got hot.”
I snort. “Anyway, it was kind of like that. My life was like a constellation I’d memorized. I knew where everything was, what everything looked like. Had the whole path memorized. High school, then college, then pros. And Lennon was like a shooting star, dimming everything else. Impossible to ignore. She changed the way everything else looked. There was suddenly a before I knew her, and an after.” I shrug. “Like I said, you’ll get it one day.”
“A guy who describes me as a shooting star? I’m more likely to discover a unicorn.” She scowls.
I laugh and shake my head. “Do you need help with the drinks?”
“No. It was mostly a ploy to get you over here and see if you guys broke up just now?”
I stare at her, brow raised. “I know, I know. She’s an eclipse. I got it. Food arrived a while ago, you should go eat.”
I nod, then head for the table.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
LENNON
“Lennon!” There’s an urgency in Gramps’s voice that makes me abandon Gallie in the cross-ties and sprint out of the stallions’ barn, grooming brush still in hand.
Gramps is standing out on the front porch of the farmhouse, leaning against one post that has the important task of keeping the railing upright. My heart rate slows when I see he’s standing and smiling. Relief swamps me.
It’s not until I reach the bottom stair and spot the white piece of paper he’s holding that I regret running over so quickly.
Some more time to figure out what I’m going to say to him about this would be nice. Although, I’ve had a week to come up with the words to tell the other person I really need to show that paper to—or at least share its contents with—and I’ve still got nothing. A few extra seconds now probably wouldn’t accomplish a whole lot.
“You got in?” Gramps shakes the sheet of paper in front of me, as though I didn’t memorize every word it says the day it arrived.
“Yeah, I did,” I confirm unnecessarily. I can read the boldCongratulations!from here.
