Page 9

EIGHT

The truce between Hadley and me lasted twenty minutes. It started off slowly, side looks and scoffs under our breaths. By the time we were down to the last bites of our dinner, we were staring daggers at each other, our promises of peace and attempts at civility out the window.

“Are you seriously trying to argue that Professor Miller graded fairly?” Hadley scowled across the table. “The man’s a fascist who only wanted his own ideologies repeated back to him!”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. I’d never admit it, but Hadley was right.

Our shared philosophy professor—the one class we had in common in college—was an absolute nightmare.

He’d talk down to the women in the class while praising the men when they brought up the same points.

I hated the guy and had filed various complaints about him after I took his course.

But I wasn’t about to let her know that.

After Victoria dropped out of school to take care of Emilia, Hadley’s path never crossed with mine.

At least, not until we walked into opposite ends of the philosophy class’ lecture hall, our eyes meeting for the first time in a year.

The moment I saw her, all those long-buried thoughts came rushing to the surface.

My eyes roamed over her face, as if committing any changes to memory.

But Hadley’s eyes only narrowed, her face contorting into a bitter stare. That was enough to bring our last conversation back to the surface, the one where Hadley blamed me for Victoria dropping out.

In reality, she wanted to leave school to be there for our daughter.

I knew it killed her to walk away, especially when she’d just found her footing outside our hometown, but after living in the shadow of her father’s career, Victoria wanted to do things differently when she became a parent.

I’d tried to convince her to stay in school, even offering to drop out with her when we got the positive test result.

Victoria refused to let me, and once she made up her mind, there was no changing it.

I’d be forever grateful she pushed me to complete my degree.

I owed it to Victoria—and Emilia—to finish what we’d started together.

“We should move on,” Victoria said from the other side of the table. “College was a long time ago, guys.”

That would have been smart, but I couldn’t let it go, not yet. Hadley always got the last word, but she’d struck a nerve with her comments.

“And you’re any better?” I scoffed back at Hadley. “You said I only got a better grade on that final paper because I was on the baseball team.”

Yes, it was a stupid thing to hold on to, but the sting was still there.

It was one of the few times Hadley and I had called a truce, forced to work together on a group project that took up weeks of our time.

Every day, I looked forward to seeing her, thinking we were amending our friendship.

Hadley warmed up to me, no longer looking at me like the devil who impregnated her best friend and forced her to drop out of school.

At least, until the final grades came out.

Hadley shook her head. “Only one person got above a C. One out of sixty students. Are you telling me you deserved an A?”

Yeah, I fucking did. I worked my ass off on that paper, almost to the detriment of my team.

I’d stayed up so late, I almost missed practice.

Our college coach was strict—miss practice?

You were out the next game. But I never wanted to be that guy, the one who got by only because he had some athletic ability.

I wanted to do well in school, wanted to have something to fall back on in case baseball didn’t work out.

But I didn’t say any of that to Hadley.

I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. “Does it matter?”

Hadley’s dark blue eyes flared, and it took everything in me not to smirk. She always had the upper hand, leaving me staring at her with that same annoyed expression. Let her judge. Let her think the worst.

But I should have known better. Hadley never did what I expected her to do.

“You’re right,” Hadley sighed. “I…uh. I read your paper.” Shock must have colored my face, because her cheeks filled with a vibrant blush. “You left it after the last class, and I couldn’t help myself. It was good. Really good.”

“Wow,” Victoria whispered to Adam. “I think hell just froze over.”

Hadley gave her a saccharine smile before turning back to me. “You deserved that A, but I did too. I tried to argue that with Miller, and he made a sexist comment.”

“He did what?” I bit out, not knowing where this protective urge appeared from.

Hadley shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.

Like you said—it was a long time ago. It’s just stuck with me all this time because I hate when my intelligence comes with a caveat.

” A ghost of a smile crossed her lips. “I tried to report him, but they called it retaliation for my crappy grade. No one took me seriously, and I took it out on you. Sorry, Cam.”

I kept staring at Hadley, not sure about the mixed-up emotions swirling inside me.

On one hand, it felt good to hear those words after all the comments over the years.

Maybe it was because she was so close to Victoria, but I hated how Hadley assumed I’d only gotten by because of baseball.

After a long beat, I cleared my throat and nodded. “Thanks, Hadley.”

“Okay…” Victoria said as she stood. “I’m going to clear the table while we’re at a good stopping point. I don’t want to shake this peace we have right now.”