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INSTITUTION
“I wasn’t expecting that.” I searched her face to see if there was anything else. The letter felt heavy in my hand, and a knot formed in my stomach. It had been five years since I received one of them.
“It came yesterday morning while you were out. It’s up to you what you decide to do with it,” Mom explained gently. Usually, my dad delivered any kind of stress-related news to me regarding my birth parents. Reed was better at keeping emotion out of things.
I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, unsure what to say next.
“And call your dad,” she commanded, her tone shifting back to normal. “His flight should be taking off soon, and I know he will want to talk to you before he lands.”
Just as she began her last sentence, my phone buzzed in my sweatpants pocket. We laughed at the name that lit up the screen. It was Dad.
“I always say that man knows everything!” Mom wiped under her eyes for any evidence of our goodbye.
“I love you.” I grinned and backed away so she would make her luncheon on time. I also had a few more things to pack and more goodbyes to give.
I watched her drive away and called Dad back as soon as she cleared the gate of the property. Even though I was saying goodbye to my life in Charlotte for a few months, I had one hell of a life in Bowling Green to return to.
Chapter28
Maci
January 2016
I really neededto consider using one blanket if I was sharing a bed with someone. Not that it was a common occurrence, but did all men run like space heaters during the night?
It was a little after nine, and Bryson was still asleep. Since he was against the wall, I crept out of bed without waking him up. I needed a shower and a cup of coffee ASAP. I decided the shower took priority since I was covered in sweat and had sex not just once but twice last night.
The noisy plumbing in the shower sprang to life, and I stood under the cascading water for a few moments to bask in the warmth. It ran down my stomach and back, washing away last night's decisions and returning my sense of self back to my limbs. I never felt recovered after sex until after a shower. It was like an emotional reset button.
The familiar scent of my rainwater and lavender body wash filled the bathroom, and I let my mind wander. I was excited to see Katie and eager to hear how the rest of her break with Connor went. It felt good to have Bryson reach out so soon after getting back, and I felt okay with my headspace surrounding him and his bullshit.
Just as I was getting around to Jaxon, I felt a hand on my waist.
“Scoot over.” Bryson ushered me toward the front of the tub and climbed in next to me.
“Seriously?” I whined and then laughed when I saw the smile on his face. “You couldn’t let me have my shower?”
He ran his gaze up and down my wet body and shrugged. “I figured you could share.”
* * *
Since my showerlacked a condom dispenser, we completed round three back in my room.
After another post-sex rinse, I relaxed comfortably in the corner of my bed, aimlessly scrolling through Instagram. It was the usual feed after a winter break with tons of vacation photos, exotic location trips, and groups of high school friends reconnecting. Suddenly my page looked incredibly bare, regardless of all the cute pictures I had on my account.
I gasped at my screen when an adorable photo of Katie and Connor in front of the famous Kidney Bean popped up next. Since Bryson hopped back into the shower, I surveyed the empty room around me. “Are we social media official?”
Just as I double-tapped the photo, Bryson’s phone went off on my desk. Even though it was on the other side of the room, I could tell it was a text message. It was rare that Bryson was without his phone, but I couldn’t let my curiosity get the better of me. I never wanted to be that girl—the crazy obsessive type of woman who, in the end, lost their mind because of the asshole they had second-guessed since the beginning.
So I decided not to be. I drafted a text to Katie to see what time she was arriving back from Chicago in an attempt to distract myself. As soon as I thought I was in the clear, the phone went off again.
“Can you see if that’s my roommate and if he needs to be let into the apartment? He forgot his keys when he left,” Bryson shouted from the shower. His voice was calm and collected like I would find nothing on his phone even if I wanted to search for it.
At the risk of sounding too creepy, I didn’t tell him that Connor wasn’t back yet because Katie was still forty-five minutes away. I knew for a fact that Jaxon had his keys, so by process of elimination, it had to be their fourth roommate that started with a J.
I knew way too much about a group of people I didn’t even live with.
“Yeah, I can!” I shouted back and walked over to the phone.
