Page 20 of Sticking Around

“Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Well, I guess if you ever change your mind and want kids, you still have a couple good years.”

She snorts again, blowing me off. I study her as she stares straight ahead. Is her clock ticking now? While not everyone is cut out to be a mother, I saw that look on her face. She wants kids.

I get the sense that it’s more than school holding her back.

8

Melanie

The pages before me begin to blur as I struggle to read, and I glance at my phone, knowing it’s time for a break. I lift my head and from the sofa I spot Brady out on the patio, surfing rental sites on his laptop. A strange sense of warmth goes through me. I can’t freaking believe he’s out there searching for a place for me to live. I gave him all the necessary criteria, but the market is so tight right now, not to mention my budget. I doubt he’ll be able to find me anything, and while I like my roommate, I am so ready for my own space.

Even if he does find something reasonably priced, things will be insanely tight. All extra income is going toward next year’s tuition, which is due in full at the end of October. I do have my line of credit, and can probably use that until I secure a full-time job after graduation—which I have leads on. I take a deep breath and remind myself, that it’s only one more year. My car, however, will have to sit idle for the time being.

As if sensing my eyes on him, his head lifts and he arches a questioning brow. I answer with a nod, letting him know I’m taking a break and he pushes to his feet, stepping back inside, laptop in hand. It’s crazy what the mere sight of him does to me and for a girl who is hell bent on finding her own space, I quite enjoy sharing this place with him this weekend.

“Anything?” I ask as he walks toward me, a slow swagger that probably shouldn’t turn me on but does. I give him a twice over—you know, like a once over, only I do it twice. After his jog and swim on the beach he changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt that shows off long, lean muscles and biceps I suddenly want to take a bite out of.

I dogear the page of my textbook, and wipe my moist palms on the one sundress I brought with me. There’s nothing flattering about it. I had no idea I’d have company. Yet everything in the way Brady gazes at me makes me feel beautiful again.

“Found a few leads,” he informs me and my heart jumps.

“Tell me.”

He sets his laptop down. “No.”

“No?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t want anything interfering with your studying. All focus should be on your upcoming exam.” I make a move to reach for his laptop, but he slides it out of my reach. Lord knows I do everything on my own and this…handing a task over to Brady is so not like me. Then again, I’m doing a lot of things that aren’t like me, but I like them. A lot.

“Fine,” I grump.

He drops to his knees before me and takes my book from my hands. “If I quiz you on what you just read, are you going to get the answers right?”

I angle my head. What is he up to? “What happens if I do get the answers right?”

He lightly toys with the short sleeves on my dress. “You’ll be rewarded.”

I laugh, assuming he’s joking, but he pushes away, sits on the coffee table and opens the book to where I dogeared the page. He goes back about ten pages to the start of the chapter. “You started here, on chapter four?”

“Uh huh.” He scans the page. “Were you a good student?” I ask. Something that looks like pain flashes in his eyes. “It’s okay. I wasn’t a great student growing up. I worked since I was fifteen, so it was always hard to fit in studying.”

His head lifts, and the second our eyes lock, I get a sense he too had to work for everything. “There wasn’t a lot of time for school,” he admits. “I had hockey, and my mom…”

His words fall off and he sucks in a tight breath. “It’s okay, Brady.”

“She has trouble with mobility,” he continues.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sometimes she has a hard time walking. Her muscles seize up. She has falls.” He casts me a fast glance and adds, “I think drinking is a big part of it.” Shock moves over his face, giving me the sense that he’d never admitted that to himself until this very moment.

I don’t touch on it, instead I ask, “You helped out a lot, huh?” If he lost his dad at eight, he must have been taking care of her for a long time.

He nods. “My uncle stays with her now.”

I take his hand in mine, and not only do I sense worry in him, I sense guilt. “It’s hard being away?”

“Yeah.”

---