Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Before I did something to embarrass myself—like throw myself at Roman—I needed to get out of here. Jerking my thumb over my shoulder, I mumbled. “Umm, that’s not necessary. Sorry. I need to go. My brother is graduating, and our parents are waiting for me inside since they dropped him off earlier.”
I didn’t give him the chance to reply before I swiveled on my heel and darted toward the building, walking as quickly as my shoes would let me without falling flat on my face. Not that I had to worry about Roman chasing after me or anything like that…although a part of me deep down inside really wished he had. Then maybe I actually would’ve believed he was interested in me.
I shoved those thoughts out of my mind as I walked all the way up to the top of the stands to join my parents. Dropping onto the seat they saved for me, I fanned myself with the graduation program I’d been given as I came inside.
My mom’s brows drew together as she leaned forward to peer around my dad at me. “Why do you look so flushed? Is the air-conditioning in your car not working? You can’t let something like that go for too long, especially with the hottest days of summer right around the corner. Dad can take a look at it for you tonight.”
“My car is fine,” I replied, barely stopping myself from rolling my eyes at how quickly she jumped to that assumption. I was a twenty-two-year-old woman with a college degree, an apartment of my own, and was almost done with my first year of teaching. My car was practically brand new—my only indulgence after I graduated. Besides my shoe collection.
But that didn’t stop my mom from treating me like one of my kindergartners.
“Then why are you all red and sweaty?” She cocked her head to the side. “Oh, dear. Is it that time of the month?”
Her whisper was loud enough that people in the rows surrounding us heard her question, and their soft laughter made my cheeks heat even more. “Stop. Please. Seriously, Mom. I just got a little warm walking from the car all the way up here since you guys decided to pick seats as far away from the stage as you could possibly get.”
“Your father wanted to have a bird’s-eye view of everything.” She flashed my dad a smile when he shook his head. “And they’re live streaming the whole thing, so I don’t have to worry about getting good pictures. I’ll just pull up the recording later and get some great screenshots of Luther.”
“At least our voices will echo when we cheer for him as he walks across the stage,” my dad muttered. “Otherwise, the poor kid might wonder if we decided to bail after dropping him off.”
Mom jackknifed up and twisted in her seat to glare at him. “As if I’d ever do something like that.”
“You never know what wild ideas that boy is gonna get in his head.” He shrugged. “Next week, he might run off to join the circus for the summer.”
Picturing my brother dressed as a clown in the sweltering heat with paint dripping down his face, I snickered. “The funny thing is, I could actually see him doing something like that.”
“Luther will be heading off to college in August, and that’s that.” My mom folded her hands together in her lap. “He knows how important his education is, just like you did when you were his age.”
“I didn’t say he was going to skip out on college, honey,” he corrected. “Just that he could decide to spend the next three months traveling the country with the circus before he ended up there.”
“More like he’ll go work for an amusement park with how much he loves roller coasters,” I joked.
“Good point.” Dad nodded with a grin. “At least then he could maybe do some networking if he decides to stick with mechanical engineering as his major.”
“Hush, you two,” Mom chided before heaving a deep sigh. “Luther isn’t going to run off anywhere. He’s going to stay home for the summer, right where he belongs.”
“Of course, he will.” My dad patted her hand. “Our children always do what you want.”
As much as I wished he was wrong, I couldn’t argue the point when I’d come back to my home town to teach…just like my mom had urged me to do. Pressing my lips together, I hummed, “Mm-hmm.”
“Did you see where your brother is listed in the program?” She flipped it open with a huff. “There’s not a single mention of him until the second to last page.”
Luther was lucky to be participating in the ceremony at all, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. At five years younger than me, my brother was the baby of the family, and my mom treated him that way. He was smart enough to earn an academic scholarship to a great college, but he tended to get himself into trouble when he had too much time on his hands.