Page 17 of Catching Feelings

“Oh, absolutely not.” Sabrina shakes her head, ponytail swinging to brush her shoulders. “It used to belong to my aunt, and then it belonged to my cousin, and now it belongs to me. It should have been consigned to a junkyard years ago.” Then she flashes me a smile. “But I’m nothing if not persistent, and now I know the quirks of this old clunker—affectionate,” she adds, patting the dashboard in apology.

I can’t help a genuine laugh. Maybe the first real one since I’ve arrived in town. “I pity the car that tries to stand up to you.”

She keeps her eyes on the road as she navigates the postwork “traffic” winding through downtown, but her smile spreads.

It gives me the nerve to pry further. “You seemed kinda stressed when I ran into you.” I watch her carefully. “Everything okay?”

She tilts her head side to side in a so-so seesaw, biting her lip as if deciding how much to tell me. “Just a little overloaded this fall. The pep rally’s one thing, but homecoming’s approaching soon too, and we just got an email that the gym’s going to be under renovations before basketball season.” She makes a face. “Just in time to make it totally unusable for the dance!”

I wince. “Damn, that does sound stressful. You have a few weeks, though, right?”

She nods. “Six and a half.”

I’d be shocked if this girl didn’t have a countdown to the minute on her phone. “So, you’ll find someplace even better. There has to be some sort of community center that will host it for cheap. Or a ballroom! A library!” I shrug. “I don’t know, you’re the ideas girl. But maybe this is a chance for you to make it even more epic than before.”

Sabrina turns to me with a brilliant, grateful smile before focusing her eyes on the road once more. “You know, you’re not half bad at this. You ever consider trading football for the Spirit Committee? You’re giving me some ideas…”

She trails off, eyes drifting out of focus as she dreams up solutions. I can’t help the swell of pride at solving a problem that used to be a stressor.

I take advantage of her distraction to study her. The bit of hair that’s fallen out of her ponytail since the morning. The dainty gold necklace that rests in the hollow of her throat. The precise eyeliner that makes her blue eyes look gigantic. Every detail glows in the setting sun.

I must stare a little too long, because she glances over again as if feeling my gaze. I clear my throat and cast about for literally any topic of conversation. “So… is there anything that goes on at Hamilton Lakes that you don’t know about?”

Her phone screen lights up with a message as if to underscore my point, and she laughs.

“I had a shift at the Lakeside with Harper the other day, and she said you single-handedly saved her business last year,” I continue.

“Oh, no, that’s way too much credit.” Sabrina shakes her head. “Harper did that herself. I just gave her the chance to get her work in front of more people.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Sounds like saving a business to me.”

“Well, I like being able to connect people. To help others see their talents. Small towns have their problems, but I think the most beautiful thing about them is the chance to really get to know and appreciate each other. Don’t you?”

I have to look out the window. Sabrina’s earnestness punches me somewhere tender. Because, yeah, I used to think that too—I was always much quieter than, say, Ryan, and glad for the way everyone in Brownsville supported me anyway. But this year I’d be fine if no one saw me. I’ve seen too much of the dark side of being a small-town hero.

“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “But I don’t know when you find time to sleep.”

She laughs. “Oh, we’ll sleep when we’re bored. Except I fear I might never be bored, you know? There’s just too much to get involved in. Too much to do.”

I have to laugh with her. Because, yeah, even a few interactions with Sabrina have made that very, very clear. I like that she can make fun of herself even while obviously enjoying her own drive.

At first it was her beaming confidence and the sure, sharp spark of chemistry between us that drew me to her.

But I’m afraid the more I get to know her, the more I’m really starting to like her. These wry, candid comments make it impossible to pull away.

“I get it,” I say. “I like being busy too.”

She glances over at me, and maybe it’s the slant of light as the sun prepares to set, but there’s something almost melancholy about her expression. It makes me want to keep going, just in case she wants to share more too.

“That’s why I like football,” I say. “It tunes out the thoughts when you’re around other people, working toward a goal together. It’s not just about you and your own problems and life. You need to be in the moment with the guys or you’ll all lose.”

“Yeah.” Sabrina keeps her eyes on the road. A long pause falls, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from breaking the silence. Sure enough, after a moment, she blurts, “My parents divorced last spring.”

My gaze flickers over to hers, but she doesn’t meet it. “Oh yeah? No one mentioned that.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I wince. Way to sound like a creep who’s been asking about her, Tyler. “I mean—it’s not like it came up—and the team knows how to gossip, that’s for sure—”

Sabrina waves a dismissive hand, and I pray she didn’t notice my more-than-casual interest. “Yeah, I kinda tried to keep it off the radar. Only my best friends know. I didn’t want it to be this whole thing, you know?”

I nod. Oh boy, do I ever.