Page 124 of Just One of the Groomsmen
She wanted to be excited when she’d received a call from the boisterous athletic director who’d insisted she come in for an interview since he’d “be damned if I let Bama steal one of our alumni.”
For a brief second, a sparkhadlit inside her, but then all she could think about was how much she wanted to call Tucker with the news but couldn’t, because she wasn’t currently talking to him, and that made it hard to be excited.
Hell, it made it hard to get out of bed.
Then there was the other insane thing she’d thought during the interview. If both football teams offered her a position, she might pick UA.
She couldn’t very well stay in Uncertainty knowing that Tucker mightsettlefor her. Or worse, have to watch him date a Barbie and suddenly decide his financial situation wasn’t that important after all.
No, if that were going to happen, she’d rather be hours away, trying out a new life.
It’d be less lonely not knowing anyone than knowing too many people and still feeling lonely. Anyway, she assumed.
She didn’t want to not take a job because of a guy, but she also didn’t want to take a job just because of one, either.
The fact that Tucker was that guy made everything a hundred times more complicated.
She climbed into her truck and glanced at her phone. A text from her mom asking how the interviews went, as well as a voicemail from Nonna.
Addie tapped the screen and put the phone on speaker, worried something bad might’ve happened, and her grandmother’s voice filled the car.
“Your mother force-fed me squash in place of noodles today,” Nonna said, forgoing a typical greeting. “In case you ever wonder, spaghetti squash is no the same as pasta. My nonnamakeher own pasta from scratch, and she’d be rolling over in her grave if she saw the way people have bastardized Italian food here.”
If Great-Nonna Cavalli rolled over in her grave as much as Nonna Lucia claimed, the groundskeeper at the cemetery would’ve called in those hot brothers fromSupernaturalby now.
Don’t get her wrong, Addie would definitely stop and take a second to appreciate the eye candy, but what she really wanted was to get her hands on that car. To take it out on the back roads and see how fast it’d go.
“It a good thing I still had those brownie bites you smuggled from the bakery for me, or I would have starved,” Nonna continued, and affection and sorrow clashed through her.
Missing her funny, overdramatic grandmother would be hard, but at least Addie could still hear her voice when she needed to. The drive to Tuscaloosa and back wouldn’t be too bad, even if she could only buzz down and buzz right back.
“This no mean I don’t want you to move, although I don’t. It just mean I appreciate you, and you’re such a good girl. But if you do move, you have to find me a replacement smuggler. I happen to know a guy who might do it. I ran into him in town today.”
The vise that’d held Addie’s heart hostage for a week and a half tightened.
“That boy is about as miserable as you. Just thought you should know.”
Aboutas miserable?
Probably like he wasaboutas serious as she was about crossing lines, and apparently there was a lot of wiggle room in what “about” meant.
He’ll get over it. Me…?
The ache in her chest bloomed, spreading throughout her body.
She texted her grandma to say she’d call later and, on reflex, checked her phone’s screen again, figuring she’d take one last look before starting the car.
Nothing.
As if it had a mind of its own, her finger tapped Tucker’s name.
He’d stopped calling and texting, and while seeing his name brought too much pain and conflicting emotions, it hurt even worse to not see it.
She hated how the weight of everything that’d happened sat like a giant wall between them, making it too hard for her to simply call and start a casual conversation and let his sexy voice carry her cares away.
To be able to ask how Flash was, as well as which side of the dock had more customers this week, boating or legal?
To ask him which job she should pick if they offered them to her, even though a big part of their fight stemmed from him doing exactly that.
