Page 79 of Tiny Fractures

Tori claps me on the back, and Vada grins at me before Coach Keaton finally herds us to the bus for the short drive back to our hotel. Vada, Tori, and I make plans to get cleaned up and then head to get some dinner together.

“Ladies, seeing as you’re all seniors, you’re free to spend your evening exploring, but don’t go anywhere alone. No drinking, no clubs, no drugs, no boys! Curfew is ten o’clock. I’ll be making rounds. Our bus leaves at seven tomorrow morning, so I expect everyone to be in the hotel lobby by six-thirty. Have fun, make good choices, and I’ll see you later,” Coach Keaton announces before the team disperses and we head to our individual hotel rooms. Tori, Vada, and I are sharing a room, and we head up the elevator together.

Back in our room, I take a quick shower before switching off with Vada, then I blow-dry my hair, put on some mascara and blush, and rummage through my bag for a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt. Vada and Tori are still in the bathroom getting ready, so I snatch my phone off the nightstand, sit cross-legged on one of the two queen beds, and unlock my phone. I have a missed call from Ronan, and I smile as I dial his number.

“Hey baby,” he answers on the first ring. He sounds tired, though happy to hear my voice.

“You have no idea how much I miss you,” I greet him, and my heart thumps in my chest when he chuckles in a husky voice.

“Oh, I think I may have an idea. What time are you coming home tomorrow?”

“Our bus leaves at seven and it’ll probably take eight hours to get home, so three-ish?” I say, and bite my bottom lip.

Ronan sighs. “I can’t believe I won’t get to see you tomorrow.”

“Why?” I ask, my voice tinged with disappointment.

“I have practice at two and then I work at five.”

“I’m going to kill Shane,” I grumble.

Ronan laughs. “Shane actually has nothing to do with this. In fact, he’s not even working tomorrow. Shane’s dad asked me to come in for some reason. I’m obviously not going to tell him no, but I’d be lying if I said I’m happy about it because, well, I’m kind of dying to get my hands on you,” he says, his voice low, and I shiver. “But hey, did you check with your mom about camping in the Hamptons?”

“Oh, yeah, I talked to her yesterday,” I say. “She made me promise that I’d be sleeping in a tent with Vada, but other than that she was fine with it.”

“She doesn’t trust me?” Ronan asks, his voice still gravelly, flirty.

I let my eyelids fall shut, pretending he’s right next to me. “It’s me she doesn’t trust around you,” I confess, and even though I’m all alone, I blush.

“Oh yeah?” His voice is driving me crazy. “And why is that?”

I exhale shakily. “Because she can tell I have a hard time keeping a straight head when I’m around you.”

“That makes two of us, then.” His voice is so low now he might as well be next to me, whispering in my ear, and I can all but feel his breath feathering against my neck, his hands leaving scorching-hot trails on my bare skin.

“Good thing I have to share my tent with Vada then, right?” I whimper.

“Probably,” he laughs quietly. “Cat, I meant it when I said I would take this relationship at whatever pace you need me to.” His voice, still low, is serious now.

I open my eyes. “I know. And you don’t know how much that means to me.” It’s something I’m beginning to understand about my relationship with Ronan—that he truly will move at my speed, refusing to pressure me into having sex or otherwise doing anything I don’t want or am not ready for. By this point in my relationship with Adam, I had already been victim to a handful of Adam’s outbursts when I didn’t do what he wanted. I’d already been called names, and it was about this far into our relationship that Adam started to get physical with me. Things only escalated from there.

Just then I can hear Ronan’s mom in the background, his name way too sharp on her tongue.

“Shit,” he mutters. “Baby, I gotta let you go. Text me when you’re home and I’ll call you on my break, okay? I can’t wait to see you Friday.”

“Me, too.”

“Hey,” he adds, sounding rushed, “you’re the best thing in my life. Seriously.” His voice is heavy, and I hear his mother call his name again. Ronan hangs up the phone before I can respond.

I sit, emotions flooding my body, my head spinning. The tone of his voice just now—there was something else. There’s something I don’t yet know beneath the still water, underneath the surface of this boy I’m falling in love with.

***

Tori, Vada, and I leave the hotel ten minutes later and head to a little Italian place two blocks from the hotel, where we eat the most amazing pasta and make plans for the camping trip this weekend. We decide that Ronan and I will drive with Tori and Shane because Shane’s Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is roomier than either Ronan’s Mustang, Steve’s Challenger, or Vada’s Focus.

After dinner, Vada insists on walking around, focused on finding a present for Steve. She ends up pulling us into a little gift shop that sells touristy Niagara Falls mementos. She and Tori peruse the selection while I wander down to a corner of the store that’s arranged like a candy shop. The shelves are stacked with glass jars of varying sizes containing different types of candies—sweet, sour, all the colors of the rainbow, chocolate, gummi bears, taffies, local specialties, and foreign imports—and I decide to bring Ronan a little bag of sweet treats.

“What did you get?” Vada asks after she leaves the store empty-handed, unable to find a present she found suitable. I hold up the clear bag filled halfway with an assortment of sweets. “Candy?” Vada cocks her head to the side and looks at me like I lost my mind. So, I recap Ronan’s and my ice cream date last Saturday.

---