Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 28062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Walker: With all seriousness, you and Ace need anything? I can drive you around.
I smile at my phone. “Nope. Dolly offered.”
Brody: See? Ring on it.
I type out, “Thanks for the pep talk, guys. I’ve gotta go and get Ace to practice. See you this week at poker.”
Brody: Want to move it to my house since you’re hurt?
I type, “Nope. I got it. Later.”
I stuff my phone in my pocket and then go in search of Dolly. She’s walking out of the bathroom as I walk into my bedroom. “That was quick.”
She shrugs. “We need to leave soon.”
“We need to talk.”
She opens her mouth and then shuts it.
“I think you and I should—”
I’m cut off when Ace comes barreling down the hall and stops at my bedroom door. “I’m ready when you guys are.”
He starts backtracking out of the room. “Come on! We can’t be late.”
Dolly starts to follow him, and I put a hand on her arm. “Dolly, we should—”
She interrupts me. “Come on, we should go. We can’t let him be late. He has to run if he’s late.”
Before I can stop her, she’s walking out of the room, and I’m having to follow behind her. She and Ace talk the whole way there, and the longer I sit in the passenger seat, the more unsettled I get. I really fucked up last night. For all the obvious reasons but also because I want Dolly to spend time with me because she wants to not because she sort of has to.
CHAPTER 10
DOLLY
As soon as I park, Ace is bounding out of the car and running toward the field.
I get out and meet Tucker at the back of my car. “Your head hurting?”
He shakes his head.
I put a hand on my hip. “Well, something is bothering you. You were scowling the whole way here.”
“It’s nothing.”
I stare at him for a full ten seconds, and when he doesn’t give me anything more, I shake my head. “Fine.”
I reach for the two chairs I have in the back of my car, but Tucker stops me. “I’ll get them.”
I wish he didn’t have those damn glasses on so I could see his eyes, but I get that the sunlight is hurting him. He grabs the chairs and carries one in each hand. I point at him. “You do know you’re hurt, right?”
He grunts. “Yeah, I know. Trust me, I’m trying to forget.”
I reach for one of the chairs. “Tucker, this is ridiculous. I can carry my own chair.”
He juts his chin at me and tightens his hand on the chair. “Not when you’re with me.”
I put a hand on his chest. “Tuck, talk to me. What’s going on? If it’s your head, you need to tell me.”
He grunts. “It’s not my head.”
I look at him, drawing on all the patience I have as an elementary school teacher, and I have a lot of it.
He blows out a frustrated breath. “You wanna know what’s wrong with me, I’ll tell you. I made a stupid mistake last night, and I don’t like that you, Ace, and everyone else that is going to have to help me out this week is paying for it. I don’t like that you had to drive me down the road today because I want to be the one taking care of you. And I hate that I’m hurt and now I don’t know if you’re here with me because you wanna be or if you feel like you have to be.”
My mouth drops open in shock, and I point at myself. “You think that I’m here out of some sort of guilt or responsibility?”
He just shrugs in response.
I slide my hand to his waist and lean into him. “Tucker Yates, you’re being foolish.”
“Oh yeah? How?” He says it smugly, but I see the vulnerability in his face.
“Well, for starters, I always want to hang out and be with you and Ace. Of all the people and all the places in the world, this is where I want to be.”
His stance softens a little, and I smile up at him. “You say you want to take care of me? Well, it’s the same for me. That’s why I hated you being at the hospital without me. I wanted to be the one that was there for you.” And then as if I’ve given up too much, I add, “That’s what friends do, right?”
I don’t wait for an answer. I shake my head and slam down my trunk. We walk across the parking lot, passing by the concessions and bleachers to get to my normal seat. Tucker moves the chairs around so he’s holding two in one hand and then reaches for me with the other. I’m surprised, but I don’t resist him. We finish walking to my spot, and I feel all the other parents’ eyes on me. I look out onto the field where Ace is watching us, and I know I have to say something to Tucker.