Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 52643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Next, she unbuckles her seatbelt and pulls a plaid skirt over her hips, hiding the bottom part of her dress.
She slips her arms through a matching shirt, and then she gasps.
“I forgot my coat.”
“Not to mention your sanity.” I make a hard left turn, and her body crashes against the door. “Put your seatbelt back on.”
She obliges and leans back.
“Question,” I say. “Why don’t you ever ask the bar owners if they can livestream these events for you?”
“I have.” She looks at me. “The owners won’t do it without me paying the cover charge and the cost of at least four drinks.”
“What about your friends?”
She ignores that question. “How much gas money are you charging me for this?”
It’s my turn to ignore a question.
As we near the highway, I notice she’s shivering. It’s not until we stop at a red light that I realize how thin her blazer is. Taking off mine, I place it over her chest.
“Here,” I say. “Slide your arms through the sleeves.”
“Thank you.”
“How much did you drink tonight?”
“I didn’t drink anything except water.”
I give her a blank stare, and she blushes.
“Okay, okay. I had two glasses of wine and a Moscow mule.”
“Would you like me to stop and get you some coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
Silence.
“What book did Randall Grey talk about?”
“The Rifts in the Universe,” she says. “Have you ever heard of it?”
“I have.” I don’t tell her that story is one of my favorites, too. If I’d known, I would’ve also come to see him. “Was seeing him in person worth it?”
“Beyond worth it.” Her eyes light up. “Not only did he sign all twelve editions for me, he dove deep into the creation of the second universe he created in The Georgian Series that he’s releasing next year, and everyone was blown away.”
“Did he say anything about the release date for the Crystal Saga?”
“He gave us rack cards with information on them,” she says. “It’s taking him longer than usual to finish, but the characters in that one just—”
“Can’t be rushed,” I finish her sentence.
“Want to hear about the notes I took on the Georgian Series?”
“Yes,” I say. “Keep talking…”
6
GENEVIEVE
Amile away from campus, Mr. Donovan pulls into the emergency lane.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Get in the backseat.”
“Why?”
“So the security guard won’t see that I’m bringing you back after hours and tell Mr. Peterson.”
“You’re really not going to tell on me?” I say. “Why?”
“The same reason why you didn’t call anyone else to come get you at two o’clock in the morning.”
I smile and unbuckle my seatbelt.
“Cover yourself with the blanket on the floor,” he says. “I’ll let you know when we’re past the gate.”
The car coasts forward, and I hear the security guard scan his badge. We wind down the familiar curves until he parks near my dorm room window.
“I have another question for you.” He opens the back door. “Why can’t you ask your college friends to meet you someplace in town on the weekend?”
“Because they wouldn’t be my ‘friends’ anymore once they found out how old I really am.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“Then why did you stop talking to me?”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought.” I step out of the car, snapping back into ‘on campus’ mode. “Thank you for the ride, Mr. Donovan. Whenever you decide to use this against me and speak to Mr. Peterson, tell him I was on Boston U’s campus and not just at another bar.”
“I already told you that he doesn’t need to know about this,” he says. “But I will tell him if you do this again.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Good.” He steps back. “You can go inside now.”
There’s no point in pretending like I’m going in through the front door, so I walk to the side and pick up the small ladder I keep tucked under the bushes.
Setting it under my window, I can’t tell if the look on Mr. Donovan’s face is amusement or horror.
Maybe it’s both.
I unbutton his blazer, but he places his hands on the sleeves.
“Keep it until the next mentor session,” he says.
He watches me until I’m safe inside, and to my surprise, he saves me from an early-morning alarm by returning the ladder behind the bushes for me.
After shutting the pane, I flop onto my bed and cover my face with his jacket.
I inhale his scent again and again until I fall asleep.
I’m never giving this back.
7
LIAM
“Ineed you to write me the greatest recommendation letter of all time, Professor Donovan.” Charlotte Vaughn, the daughter of San Francisco’s newest billionaire ‘tech God,’ follows me into the teachers’ library Friday morning. “I’ve emailed you about this four times, and you have yet to respond.”
“I don’t check my emails all day, Miss Vaughn.”
“Well, Harvard and Yale are willing to rush my application to the top, but they can’t do that until I’ve turned everything in,” she says. “You’re the lone holdout.”