Page 13 of The Route to You

5

SLOAN

EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

Kyle had been unusually quiet over dinner—a local Italian place near campus where the pizza came out so greasy that Sloan usually had to mop it up with a couple of napkins.

But it was fine.

Boring, but fine.

Not that the boring was what bothered her.

All right, maybe it bothered her a little bit, but that was mostly because nothing brought her joy at the moment. Not since Mom’s funeral. God, I miss her. Sloan and Kyle had skipped their second anniversary dinner, which was appropriate, and somehow even that didn’t really matter.

Will I ever not feel this devastated?

And then all that pain had only gotten worse last week when she’d gone home for Thanksgiving. She still couldn’t believe her dad was an unfeeling monster. That he’d so quickly and easily just erased all trace of Mom, like she’d never existed.

Kyle had been so busy studying that when she’d tried to talk to him about it all, he didn’t seem to understand how much what Dad had done was affecting her.

Also, she was still hungover, and pizza hadn’t even remotely been what she wanted tonight. She hadn’t planned on going out at all today, but then Kyle surprised her this morning, and she’d had to drag herself out of bed and pretend she wasn’t still feeling the effects of vodka overconsumption.

Because Kyle wouldn’t be happy to hear she’d been drunk again last night.

They started back to her dorm room, and she glanced over her shoulder at him as he squinted in the unusually bright November sun, his gaze focused on the horizon. “So, are you going to spend the night?” she asked.

He glanced at her. “Um . . .” He shook his head slowly. “Physics final tomorrow, remember?”

Oh. Right.

“You could always just wake up early and drive back then,” she said with a shrug.

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea. It’s a third of my grade.”

Sloan stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket, her fingers curling. And . . . because, apparently, physics is more important than your girlfriend whose mom just died.

“So, why’d you bother to come? You should have just stayed home and studied. If you don’t know it by now, it’s probably too late.”

He flashed a look at her, his brows lifting. “I came because I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine.” She rolled her eyes. “That would have taken a two-second text to find out.”

He didn’t answer, but the way his jaw worked made it clear she’d irritated him.

Whatever. It’s true.

The rest of the walk to her dorm was silent, with him brooding over whatever had been occupying his mind today, and her growing more irritated at the thought of him leaving tonight.

Didn’t he understand how much she needed him right now?

Coming for the day and leaving without spending the night felt like a waste of freaking time.

She glanced over her shoulder at him as they reached her door. He wasn’t really planning on leaving, was he? She had a cute outfit she’d bought when Penny took her shopping during the Black Friday sales the week before.

One glance at her in it and he’d change his mind.

She stepped inside and flipped on the light. Her roommate had gone to her boyfriend’s for the weekend, which was perfect as far as Sloan was concerned.