Page 64 of Out of the Shadows
“Yes, Alicia,” I said quickly, stepping in to save him.
“Oh, wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I just have to say, Hailey, we’re so thrilled about this. I’ve been hoping foryearsthat Colt would finally—”
“Mom,” Colt cut in, his cheeks pink now, “let’s not make this a thing, okay?”
“It’s not athing, honey. I’m just happy for you two! Anyway, your dad and I were talking, and we’d love to have you both come home for Thanksgiving. Hailey, your mom says she’s been missing you—”
I froze, keeping my face neutral as my heart raced. “That’s sweet of her,” I said in an even voice. “But, um, she’s been pretty busy lately.”
“Oh, I’m sure she has,” Mrs. Michaels said brightly. “But she sounded so excited when I mentioned you and Colt! I think it’s just a matter of time before she starts gushing as much as I am.”
I felt Colt glance at me, but I kept my gaze fixed on the counter. “Yeah … maybe.”
Mrs. Michaels, oblivious, kept going. “Anyway, think about Thanksgiving, okay? It would mean so much to us. And Hailey, your mom said—”
“Mom,” Colt interrupted again, his voice firmer this time. “We haven’t even talked about next week yet. Can we just … slow down a little?”
She sighed dramatically. “Fine, fine. But don’t keep me waiting too long for an update, okay? Hailey, dear, don’t let him off the hook so easily!”
I forced a smile. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Michaels. I’ll keep him in line.”
“That’s my girl,” she said with a laugh. “All right, I’ll let you two get back to whatever you were doing. But don’t forget — Thanksgiving! Love you, honey!”
“Love you too, Mom,” Colt said, quickly ending the call. He let out a long breath, his shoulders slumping as he leaned against the counter.
“Sorry about that,” he said, his expression sheepish.
“Why are you apologizing?” I asked, keeping my tone light. “Your mom’s sweet. She just wants to see you happy.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Yeah, but she doesn’t know how to chill. It’s like she’s been waiting her whole life for this or something.”
“Well,” I teased, nudging him with my shoulder, “can you blame her? You’re a catch, Colt Michaels.”
He snorted, ducking his head, his blush deepening. “Yeah, okay.”
I laughed, though the tension in my chest remained. It wasn’t his fault my parents didn’t see things the same way. He didn’t know how much of an uphill battle this might become, and I wasn’t ready to ruin the moment by telling him.
Instead, I reached for his hand, lacing my fingers through his. “Relax. This is completely new territory for both of us, we’ll just tackle everything together.”
He barked out a laugh. “Tackle? Was that an intentional play on words?”
“Nah. Just bad luck.” I laughed, flipping my hair over one shoulder and leaning against the counter.
His eyes darkened as he raked his gaze over me, positively devouring me and making me abandon all thoughts of matchmaking moms and visits home.
He crept closer until he was positioned right in front of me, towering over me, almost swallowing up my smaller form as he stroked my cheek with the rough pad of his thumb.
***
The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible. Cheering in college was a completely different experience than cheering in high school — duh, I know. I was lucky I got a spot on the team my freshman year. We were at halftime, our team down by a touchdown, but the crowd at a home game was always wild.
My leg went up in the air on a high kick as I got into formation for the halftime performance with the others, and we did our best to entertain the crowd.
We had reached the last part of our choreography, and the final sequence still made me nervous. It had never caused me any problems, but I was still terrified of fucking it up. In front of such a big audience, that would be a nightmare. Not to mention, Colt was here, even though the team was still in the locker room.
As focused as I could be, I counted the beats in my head so as not to miss my cue, hit it a millisecondlate, but not so late that the crowd would notice, and jumped into the splits, landing on the floor. All that stretching had paid off.
We smiled, cheered, and waved our pom-poms. I got back up as gracefully as I could, just in time to see Colt and his team emerge from the tunnel. We cheered them on, and when I caught Colt’s eye, I gave him my biggest smile and yelled, “Go get ’em!”
