Page 83 of Tight Ends & Tiaras
“A little,” he says slowly as he studies my face. “Why? Is that a thing? You hate coders?”
Coders? You mean, like my dad, both of my brothers, and all of their friends?
I blow out a big breath. “No, I don’t hate coders.” I roll my eyes. Shrug. Make a face.
He chuckles and kisses my temple. “But ya have some strong feelings about it, huh?”
I stare into his beautiful dark eyes. “Maybe.”
“You planning to tell me why?”
I can’t help but return his smile. “At some point, possibly.”
“You gonna tell me what you’re studying? Sorry, you’re right—I should’ve asked that before now.”
“It’s okay. I’ve, um, changed majors a few times, but I think I’ve finally settled on classical literature with an emphasis on mythology.” Something my father called a completely useless major. And maybe it is, but I love classes, and shouldn’t you enjoy what you study?
I remind myself of that Emerson quote. Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.
My father would think I was crazy if I ever told him this, but in my own quiet way, studying something I love and teaching yoga instead of drowning in those tech classes is my way of ‘living in the sunshine.’ Even if no one in my family understands.
Johnny pokes his head into the bathroom. He has Lily sound asleep on his shoulder. When he sees me, he nods. “Oh, good. You’re not dead. Listen, where do you want the baby? She’s drooling all over my duds here.”
I don’t know why he’s deferring to me. I look to Ben, and he shrugs.
Before we file out of the bathroom, Ben tugs on my shirt. “That’s a cool major, sunshine. I wanna hear more about it.”
I smile to myself as I follow him toward his room at the front of the house.
Olly, who has deemed himself honorary uncle, offers to grab the baby’s diaper bag from the SUV.
When I enter Ben’s room, I look around, wondering if I’m missing some important detail about why my room was trashed. And then it hits me.
“Janelle’s stuff is gone.” I say it so quietly, no one hears me. I check the closet before I repeat myself, and then Ben’s at my side. “Didn’t Janelle leave some of her things here when we went to the lake?”
“A bag or two. Some girlie crap. I don’t know what all was in there, but yeah.”
It didn’t make any sense for her to rent a room at the motel the whole time we were at the cabin, so she stashed her things in Ben’s room before we left.
And now they’re gone.
I look at him. “I didn’t give her a key to the house. Did you?”
“Of course not.” His eyes clench shut. “Fuck. Fuck!”
Lily starts to wake up, but Johnny shocks the hell out of me and starts swaying side to side while he hums some song. If I weren’t so upset over my bedroom, I’d grab my phone and take a video of him being adorable.
Olly runs in with the giant diaper bag we took on the trip. “What’s wrong?”
“Janelle’s crap is gone,” Ben grits out.
We all look at each other, but no one says it. Until Johnny shakes his head. “So she broke into your house, took her crap, and shit all over yours. Damn, girl.”
I bite my lower lip, loathing the anxiety rising up in me again. “It might’ve been Cal. I trashed his laptop and all of his books that night.”
That thunderous look in Ben’s eyes returns. “If he did this, I’m gonna kick his ass. He has it coming anyway.”
“Dude,” Johnny says as he pats Lily on her butt. “Don’t get kicked off the team before the season even starts. And hey, it could’ve been Destiny—she was fuming when we threw her shit on the lawn. So let’s not get our panties in a twist before we know who the real culprit is.”
