Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
No, I didn’t think he did, which was confusing and exciting at the same time. Rush was different. Rush was sort of everything. “I adore him as well. I’m a mess and new at this, but I care about him.”
Kathy smiled, reached over the table, and squeezed my hand. “You’re doing fine.”
“Thank you.”
We were quiet for a moment as we ate our salad.
“Do you have any family in the area?” she asked a few minutes later.
My gut twisted at the question. “No.” I wiped my mouth. “I don’t really have any family. I have parents out there somewhere. As far as I know they’re still alive, but…well, they weren’t fond of having responsibilities. Believe it or not, I was incredibly shy as a child. I spoke late, and throughout elementary school I rarely spoke in school at all. They were these wild, fun-loving people, and I was their strange son who didn’t talk. Needless to say, it wasn’t a good match, so they took me to my mom’s sister, dropped me off, and never came back.” The words had just sort of tumbled from my mouth. I still couldn’t believe I’d actually said them. It wasn’t something I ever talked about. “Sorry. That was a lot.”
“Don’t you be sorry at all. It was their loss. Quite frankly, they didn’t deserve you, Lincoln.”
This light, sort of airy feeling rushed through me, dancing on her words. They meant more to me than I could ever say. “Thank you.”
“Are you and your aunt close?”
I shook my head. “She was the opposite of her sister. She wasn’t a bad woman, and she took care of me. I’ll always appreciate that, but I knew it wasn’t her choice. She often complained to me about my parents. She was incredibly religious, and I think she knew instinctively that I was gay.” And…I was just about done with the conversation. My chest started to tighten and my pulse sped up.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea, but again, they didn’t deserve you. And you have family now in me and Rush. I know it’s not the same. I’m not your mom, but—”
“It’s better,” I replied. “Chosen family is there because they care about you, not because they have to be. That means more than obligation any day.”
“I like that,” Kathy replied.
“I do too.” I liked all of this. I loved being with Rush, being his and him being mine. I loved lunch with Kathy and my chosen family expanding. That’s what they all were really—Rush, Beau, Ash, Camden, and Sawyer—my chosen family.
“Well, I think I’ve brought up enough depressing conversations for one lunch. You’re going to go home and tell Rush you never want to eat with me again.” She laughed.
“Well, I can likely be persuaded if there’s more chocolate cake involved,” I teased just before Keegan came back with our dessert.
“I think that can be arranged.”
We ate chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, and not gonna lie, I likely moaned a few times. It had been a while since I treated myself to something like that. Afterward, I paid the bill. We stood to go, but I wasn’t ready for the afternoon to end. I liked Kathy, enjoyed spending time with her. I could almost pretend she was my mom. “So…I have an idea.”
“I’m already intrigued,” she replied.
“How would you like to take a quick trip to Fever Falls College? We don’t have to. I don’t want to push.”
Kathy’s eyes sparkled, and again I noticed how similar they were to Rush’s. “Really? Do you truly think I could do it? You don’t think I’m too old?”
“Absolutely not. You’re fabulous.” I hooked my arm through hers and began to walk. “Let’s go show them just how awesome you are.”
It wasn’t until late that night that I got to speak to Rush. I was in a bubble bath when my cell rang. My pulse immediately skyrocketed when I saw his name on the screen, which yeah, is ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it. I was falling way too fast.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey, Red. I missed you today.”
“Obviously. You’d have to be crazy not to. I thought about stopping by, but I knew you were hanging out with Jude and that Dean was coming over for more interview stuff this afternoon.” He’d been trying to spend more time with Jude the past couple of days. Apparently, he had some personal things going on, and I respected Rush for wanting to be there for his friend. “How did the interview with Dean go?”
“Fine. He went with me to therapy, and then we chatted some at the house. I don’t want to talk about that, though. You took my mom to the college today and helped her start getting registered.”
“I did…” I couldn’t tell from his voice how he felt about it. There was no reason for him to be upset. He’d been excited and supportive the first time I spoke with her about it, and even if he was upset, I couldn’t regret it, not when Kathy was so thrilled.