Page 58 of Very Unlikely
My rile tapers off when he brings up my profile like he’s knowledgeable on how the app works. I’m not just suspicious he’s back in the dating game, I am also flabbergasted by what my profile displays. I’ve had many matches over the years, but only one is paired with my profile. It’s for a man who goes by the username Lenigan69.
“Let me see that.” I snatch the phone out of my father’s hand before hitting the link that shows Lennox returned my match an hour after we met—mere minutes after we shook on a no hanky-panky clause. “If this is how he felt, why didn’t he show me this?”
Unaware I am more summarizing than asking a question, my father replies, “Because he’s terrified history might repeat itself.”
I snap my eyes to my father. “What was wrong with what you and Mom had? You didn’t have the world, but you had each other, and that’s all that matters.”
My stomach gurgles when he mutters, “It isn’t our history Lennox is striving to avoid. It’s his parents. His mother was a smart, intelligent woman—”
“Who Lennox never truly got to meet because she fell in love with the wrong man,” I fill in when the truth finally presents itself. Lennox often mentions similarities between his mother and me. She was head of her class senior year of high school and also wanted to be a doctor, but unlike me, who plans to enter the field of oncology with a masters in biochemistry so I can help patients overcome cancer while seeking the cure we all so desperately crave, she was aiming to practice in obstetrics.
Lennox’s mom’s plans went wayward when she fell pregnant with Lennox. Her studies were temporarily placed on hold, and when scandal after scandal rocked her marriage within the first year, she put all her focus into keeping her family together.
I doubt she had any regrets placing her family first—what mother would—but I can imagine how Lennox has confused her dedication as her giving up a part of who she was for him and his father. She sacrificed everything for them, and he wants to make sure I don’t do the same.
He has no reason to fret. I’m not his mother. I know relationships take an equal number of sacrifices, and it’s time for me to prove that to him.
“Where are you going, pumpkin?” my dad asks when I press my lips to his cheek before rocketing out of my seat.
“To prove to Lennox I’m not his mother.”
My sprint up the bleacher’s stairs slows when he gabbers out, “Can you do that without the antics of last night?”
“I offer no guarantees.” The guilt my next set of words should swamp me with are nowhere near as bad when my father’s growl swallows them whole. “So perhaps you should go back to Buffalo.”
“Pumpkin….”
“I love you, Daddy. I’ll call you if I need you.”
He tries to maintain his overprotective stance, but just like he was forever a sucker when my mother spoke the first three little words at the start of my sentence, he is for me as well. “If he hurts you, I’ll—”
“Remove his insides via his butthole. Got it!”
His laughter is still ringing in my ears when I take a detour to the merchandise store on the way to the parking lot. Ravenshoe Ravens’ bath bombs aren’t ideal, but when they provide the only coverage a girl will have while trying to seduce a man way outside of her league, you take what you can get.
25
Lennox
“Are you sure you didn’t want to stay a couple more days?”
Rye shifts his eyes from the throng of people entering and exiting the train station in Hopeton. “The more time I spend here, the less time I’m at the shop.” He fetches his duffle bag off the floor of Cubie before locking his eyes with me. “How much do you know about that Cody kid Summer was hanging out with?”
“Other than he’s a douche, not much. Why?”
I learn who Summer perfected her screwed-up nose from when Rye’s crinkles like he’s caught a strong whiff of dog shit. “No reason. He just seemed familiar, that’s all.” After squeezing my shoulder like he did when I offered to drive him to Hopeton so he didn’t have to waste his hard-earned dollars on an exorbitant cab fare, he cranks open the door and peels out. “Remember—”
“Treat Summer right, or you’ll remove my intestines via my asshole.” He stops grinding his teeth about losing the ability to issue me a death threat when I tack on, “Hurting Summer has never been my intention, and it willneverbe my intention. You have my word.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You think I’ll hurt Summer?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.
“No,” he immediately denies. “I’m afraid your inability to hurt her will see her plan working.”
“Plan? What plan?” Rye exposes who got all the dramatics in his family when he heads for the soon-to-depart train like I never said anything. “Does it have anything to do with Cody?” His stride doesn’t falter. “Rye!”
My shouting ends when he mutters, “Take care of my girl, Lenigan69.”
