Page 33 of That Summer
“You still haven’t told her? Lucas!”
He huffed as his shoulders slumped. “It’s not that easy, okay? I’ve tried with her, and it always comes back to the money issue. If I do well overall in the season, maybe I’ll have enough to set aside for the second term. But I’d be throwing away so much by doing that.”
“That may be true,” she kept time with him. “But think of all you’ll be gaining? You have a real gift for reading people, and this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned it. There’s something about you that instantly puts people at ease and makes them want to spill their darkest secrets.”
“Oh ha ha.”
“You know it’s true. You and Chris could go into business together. Collectively you’d heal a lot of sick, twisted people.”
A sad smile appeared, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t healed you.”
“Maybe I’m not the right type.”
“You mean there’s a specific type of sick and twisted?” The arch of his eyebrow was high enough to touch his hairline.
“Yeah, and if you enrolled in psych you’d know that.” A small giggle snuck out.
“Touché.” He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “There has to be something we’re missing… September’s a heartbeat away, and you’re no where ready to make the trip there.”
Tendrils of hair fell against her cheeks as she hung her head. “I know. Online classes are becoming more and more like a long-term reality. It sure would be nice to make it longer than five minutes before losing my mind.”
“We’ll get it figured out, there’s got to be a solution. Something we haven’t thought of.”
They turned onto the sidewalk that led to UB’s Sports Pub.
“It’s like that old saying,it was in the last place I looked. Well, duh, only a special type of idiot would keep looking for something after they’ve already found it. That’s the very definition of insanity.”
He nodded and stopped to hold the door for her as they entered. Noisy chatter from dozens of customers happily replaced the normal assault of twangy music that ached her eardrums. All of whom were sitting at tables decorated with easels and plates of paint.
Lucas spoke up from behind her. “What’s going on?” The giant smirk he tried to hide said it all. The bugger knew.
“Lucas,” she said, glancing around. At the end of one of the tables at the back, she spotted someone familiar. “Kaitlyn?” As she sidestepped a waitress with a tray full of drinks, another face popped out from behind an easel. “Daddy?” Her eyes bugged out. “What’s going on?” She rushed over to give her daddy a hug. “What are you doing here?”
Should I be worried? I have been keeping up with my daily calls.
“Painting a picture of buildings, apparently.” He thumbed to a large picture hanging off the partition separating the bathrooms from the main area.
She cocked an eyebrow. “No, really?”
“Ask him.”
Turning on the spot, she faced Lucas. “What’s going on?”
“Surprise.”
“What?”
Kaitlyn squeezed her hand. “We’re celebrating your birthday.”
“But, it’s not until next week.”
“Yeah, but this was the only night they were available,” Lucas said, nodding at Kaitlyn and her father. “I told you we were gonna do something different, fun and unexpected.”
“Oh my god,” she said, her smile widened and her heart raced a little faster. “This really is totally unexpected.”
Lucas beamed and walked over to her father. “Pleasure to finally meet you in person, Mr. MacIntyre. Thanks for coming.”
“Anything for my Princess. And please call me Cole.”