Page 73 of Courting Clemson

“Goodbye, Clemson,” he said, and it felt like a lot more than just the usual way to end a phone call.

Chapter Eighteen

Clemson

Brian and I had our last official date on New Year’s Eve. Luke barely reached out, and I figured I’d blown it with him. For the first two weeks after I’d come clean, he kept me on radio silence. It seemed like an immature way to handle the situation, but I reminded myself to respect his space. If things were meant to be between us, they would work out. I wasn’t normally that kind of girl, so getting in that headspace of letting my destiny up to the universe took some doing.

Grace went home for winter break and I spent the week of Christmas in Los Angeles with my family. It was amazing spending time with my little niece. She was already getting so big. Seeing Christmas through a child’s eyes brought a whole new level of magic to the holiday.

My oldest sister, Hannah, was pregnant again, and my second-oldest sister, Agatha, was actively trying to get pregnant. All the hormones in that house had made for some tense moments, but I was now back in San Diego, ready to start the new semester. All with scholarship funding in place and a stellar GPA going into the new year.

The house was quiet and lonely. I worked on taking down the Christmas tree and packing away the sparse decorations we had around the place. I was out in the garage on a ladder, trying to heave a heavy box into the rafters, when I heard someone clear their throat at the entrance to the garage.

I nearly stumbled to the ground when I saw Luke standing there, hands deep in the pockets of his puffer vest.

“Need some help?” he asked.

“I think I got it,” I said with one last shove, and the whole ladder wobbled beneath me.

“Jesus,” he said, rushing to steady the aluminum frame until both my feet were back on the concrete floor.

“How are you?” I asked. “How was your Christmas?”

“Lonely,” he said but didn’t elaborate.

Awkward silence sat between us until I finally asked, “Do you want to come in?” I motioned over my shoulder toward the house.

“Yeah, sure,” he said and followed me inside. He had been to our little house many times but looked around like he’d never seen the place.

“Can I make you some coffee? I was just about to have something.”

“Okay. That sounds good, actually.”

He looked tired. And sad. Obviously, he had come by for a reason, so I had to dig deep for patience and wait him out until he was ready to talk.

“How’s the season going? I’ve been watching your stats online,” he admitted with a sheepish look.

I grinned without hiding it. That made me happier than it probably should have.

“Well, if you’ve been checking my times, you know how the season’s going,” I teased. “I qualified for finals already, so there’s some pressure off.”

“Did your scholarship get reinstated?” he asked directly.

I nodded. “Yep. I should be good to go moving forward. Lord knows I won’t get myself into that situation ever again.” I added an exaggerated eye roll.

“Clemson—”

“Luke, listen?—”

I smiled as we spoke over each other.

“You go first.” I motioned my hand in front of myself.

“You know I could’ve given you the money,” he said. “You never even asked.”

When I realized what he meant, I said, “Why would I have? What would’ve made that okay? And why would I have any idea about your financial status? It’s not like we talked about it, well, ever. Especially not when I needed to do something about it. The problem was already in my lap when I met you at the shelter.”

“But you were okay asking a perfect stranger? That doesn’t make sense.”

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