Page 97 of Study Buddies

“I really don’t want to.”

“Okay, it was just a thought.” I took her hand and squeezed. She’d made her decision, and—wait. “Do you mean you’re not going to? Or just that you don’twantto?”

She looked the opposite way, out the window, but she kept her fingers laced through mine. “I really, really, really don’t want to go tomorrow. But… maybe you’re right. Maybe I should.”

“Look, we’re not that far outside of Atlanta. Let’s get lunch somewhere and then we’ll do whatever you want. Head north or get a hotel and stay until tomorrow.”

“Can you do that?” she asked. “I know you didn’t expect to be gone overnight.”

“Neither did you.”

She was silent for another mile or two, and then she said my least favorite word. “Kyle.”

Since she wasn’t looking at me, I made a face but kept my voice neutral. “What about him?”

“His paper. I don’t know how much he got done today, but we need to work on it tonight. Otherwise it won’t be done in time.”

My stepbrother had a remarkable knack for frustrating people from afar. “I’ll get Jayden to help him.”

“Will he mind?”

“If you mean Jayden, no, of course not. If you mean Kyle, well, who knows? But he’s sure as hell more likely to accept help from Jayden than from me.”

Finally, she looked my way. “Yeah, that’s true.” She sighed. “Okay. We find a restaurant. I buy you lunch. One of us talks to Jayden. I talk to Kyle. And if by some miracle all of that works out, we find a hotel.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Except for one miscalculation. If she thought I was letting her pay for lunch after the day she’d had, she was out of her mind.

28

TORI

“Here’sone that’s $179 a night.” Lucas swiped at his phone screen while I drove. After lunch, I needed something to keep me from thinking too much about the wedding tomorrow. Dealing with the traffic and construction around Atlanta was the perfect distraction—for better or worse.

We could do better on the price. “Look for one along the highway. It doesn’t have to be super nice, it’s only for one night.”

There’d been no point in driving back to Macon today. We could do that before the wedding tomorrow. There were more things to do around here anyway—not that we’d come to sightsee.

“Here’s one. It’s a hundred and eleven plus tax. Wow, that’s a lot of tax.”

“Is it on the highway?” I asked, tapping the steering wheel.

“Yes, pretty close.”

“Okay, sounds good. My credit card’s in my purse. Can you reach it?”

“Hold on, I’m not there yet.” He spoke out loud as he scrolled. “Non-smoking… two beds… or did you want two rooms?”

“One room is fine.”

“Okay, two queen-size beds. Check-in is any time after four. And—there. Got it,” he said, giving a satisfied nod.

“Wait, you didn’t get my card.”

“I just reserved it with mine. It was already in my phone.”

“I’m paying for the room,” I said as firmly as I could.

“I understand.”

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