Page 47 of The Wildest One

Enjoy Europe—I’m guessing that’s where you’re headed during your time off?

Beck

Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Me

Ah! Amazing! I’ve always dreamed of going on a safari.

Can you imagine listening to the sounds of all those animals and looking up at the dark sky, gazing at the stars with me? Put me in your suitcase, pleeeease.

I stared at my screen, the bubble beneath his name showing that he was typing. I slowly filled my lungs with air, the anxiety kicking in as I wondered what his response would be. Would he invite me to join him, like he had asked me to come to Paris? Would he offer to go to the Cape?

Even though we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, that hadn’t stopped us from trying to get together.

The want was there.

He showed me that consistently.

Luck just hadn’t been on our side.

I set my phone down on my bed, the bubble still moving beneath his name. I went into the kitchen of the apartment I shared with Ginger and another friend, and I grabbed a can of sparkling water from the fridge. Both girls were already sleeping. I was the only one who had stayed up for the game, so I quietly tiptoed back to my room, making sure I didn’t wake them.

I sank into the row of pillows on my bed and picked up my cell. I waited a few seconds, but the bubble was gone, and it didn’t return.

And there was no message from Beck on the screen.

He didn’t want me to go.

A devastating blow that dug straight into my heart as each hour passed.

My chest was a gaping hole the next morning when there was still no text from him.

And when a whole week went by and all I got from him was silence, my heart completely shattered.

“Why don’t you look as excited as I thought you’d be?” my father asked as I sat on the other side of his desk. The news he’d just shared was pulsing inside my chest, hitting walls that held in my heart and ricocheting. “I thought you’d be grinning ear to ear.”

But his news had come out of nowhere.

And it was information I was having the hardest time processing.

“I am excited, Dad.” I rubbed my hands over my black skirt. They weren’t just sweaty; it felt like each finger weighed hundreds of pounds. “I think I’m a little overwhelmed by it all.” When they were as dry as they could get, one dived into my hair, twirling the strands as my brain spiraled.

A spiral that took me from one dead end to another, causing me to mentally turn and run in a different direction.

“Understandable.” He picked up his cell as it rang on top of his desk and silenced the call. “We have a lot to discuss. I want to get into details, but I don’t have time to do that now.”

My chest was thumping far too hard and fast for me to say much more besides, “No, I get it.” I checked my watch, knowing I was cutting it close to the meeting I had with my client. This pop-in with Dad had been unscheduled; he’d just asked me to come to his office a few minutes ago. “I have to run too. How about I come over for dinner tonight and you can break everything down?”

He picked up the silver classic pen from his desk—a gift I’d given to him when I was in the first grade,Best Dadengraved toward the top—and he tapped it against his blotter. “Salmon piccata or lasagna?”

“Dad,” I groaned, “you can’t ask me that. You know they’re both my favorites that Mom makes.”

He smiled. “See you tonight.”

I nodded and got up from my chair, walking out of his office and closing the door behind me. As I reached my cubby, I found it harder and harder to breathe, especially since one of the first things my eyes landed on was Boston’s schedule. It was pinned to the wall right next to my computer, where I’d circled the home games in pink highlighter.

Three weeks from now, we were playing the LA Whales.