Page 48 of Barron's Second Chance
She smiled down at Bailey. "What Barron said. I loved English and Geography the most. I wasn't much into sports -”
"But you loved to watch a certain striker play soccer." Barron interrupted, amusement ringing in his tone.
Eden paused, glaring at Barron at the reminder.
Yes, she had undoubtedly loved seeing her boyfriend play. She remembered camping out in the bleachers after school every Monday and Wednesday, her young gaze eagerly drinking up her man with a feeling of pride and hunger. When he came off the field all smelly and sweaty, she still readily accepted his embrace, soaking up his essence.
They usually parked up somewhere for a hot and heavy session afterward.
"You guys were friends, right? In school." Bailey's question brought her out of her lust-inducing thoughts.
Luckily she was saved from answering when the waitress arrived with their order. She eagerly snatched up her ice-cold water and guzzled it down.
Unfortunately, Barron, ignoring her uneasiness at the question, picked up the conversation.
"Yeah, Bailey. Eden and I were friends.Goodfriends," he made sure to emphasize.
"But Mom said you haven't seen each other since school."
Out of the mouths of babes. Eden shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't touching this conversation. She'd leave that up to Barron to explain.
"Yeah, we lost touch." Hazel eyes met hers. "But we're hoping to reconnect."
She met his gaze unflinchingly this time, letting him know her distress at his statement through a heated stare, where they still seemed to be able to communicate wordlessly.
"What was Barron like at school?" Bailey mumbled around her burger.
Eden considered the loaded question for a moment before a small bark of laughter escaped her lips.
"He was a total jock," she teased, raising eyes full of laughter at Barron, who reciprocated with his own snort of amusement.
Bailey giggled as Barron rolled his eyes playfully and took a big bite of his burger.
She tipped her head in thought as she remembered more details. "He was also a class clown. Always cracking jokes and playing pranks."
"Barron?" Bailey's eyes danced in delight. "What was the best prank he did?"
Barron leaned forward, placing his chin on his hand. "Yes, I'm interested to know which one of my master pranks you liked the best," he teased with a wink.
She pointed her fork at him. "Easy. You had a tape recorder hidden in the classroom."
She turned to Bailey. "About twenty minutes into our science class, it started saying random phrases like“coconut,” “football sucks,”or…what were the other words?" Barron tipped his head back to laugh.
"We deserve an A” and“New Haven Rovers rule.”
"That's what gave you away. You were the only soccer player in our class," she reminded him.
Bailey giggled, and they all joined in.
"Two weeks detention I got for that."
"And I stayed back to wait for you every day," she added without thinking.
And just like that, the air was sucked out at the reminder of why she waited. Because Eden was his girlfriend. A badge of honor that she wore with pride.
Needing a distraction from her grim thoughts, she concentrated on moving her poached egg onto her toast with her fork, pressing down and watching in satisfaction as the yolk oozed onto her toast before spreading it onto her plate.
"When do you go back to New York?" Bailey, luckily, didn't seem to pick up on the intermittent tension surrounding the two adults.
