Page 108 of Spring Tide

“There’s a game this Saturday after Thanksgiving. It’s part of rivalry week, so our team’s playing against Dayton. Danny’s gonna be around, obviously, and he wants us to get together for another double date.” His shoulders tense. “What do you think? I know last time was fucking awkward, so you can say no.”

“Of course I’ll go, but I honestly don’t know why you still talk to him.”

He gives me an exaggerated eye roll. “Okay, Miss Forgiveness.”

“Hey, I’m not totally infallible.” I laugh, shoving at his chest. “At leastsomethings have to be irredeemable.”

He shrugs. “He’s still my best friend.”

“I thought I was your best friend.”

“Okay, well, he’s my longest friend.”

“Fine, fair enough.”

He perks up, swinging an arm around me. “So we’re going, then?”

“Yeah, we’ll go.”

“Thank you,” he says softly, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“I’d do anything for you. You know that, right?”

His cheeks flush, lips quirking into a smile. “I do now.”

“Tell me something. If you could do anything ... if money wasn’t an issue and you had all the time in the world, what would you do?”

“I guess I would travel.”

“Where?”

“My mom’s family is originally from a small town in southern Italy, so maybe there. We don’t have many ties to the place these days, but I think it would be kind of cool to go check it out someday.” His fingers brush the stray hairs across my forehead. “What about you? I’m sure you’ve traveled all over.”

“I did do a lot of international travel growing up. There are still some places I’d wanna visit, but one thing I’ve always really wanted to do is go camping.”

He cocks his head to the side. “You’ve never been camping?”

“Nope, never.” I give him a tired sigh. “My parents aren’t really the camping type, if you know what I mean.”

He rears back, eyes glinting with mischief. “I’ll take you camping.”

“You will?”

“Of course.”

Anticipation thrums through my body at the idea. “Okay, maybe we could plan a trip somewhere in the spring after you get drafted.”

“And if I don’t get drafted?”

I give him a stern look, confidence seeping from my voice as I say, “You will.”

He nods, his smile piercing me as he laces our fingers together. “Then I guess it’s a done deal.”

32

LUCA

It’schaos inside my head, and there’s little I can do about it.

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