Page 23 of I Choose You

He finished scribbling on the back of his card. “If there are any other details that need my attention, just send me an email and we’ll smooth them out. But if you’d like to get a drink, a dinner, anything.” He handed me the card at the same time he set my pen down. “That’s my personal number.”

No words came to me as he smiled and turned to leave.

I stood there, shell-shocked and uneasy in his absence. After spending an hour trying to fend off his questions and focus on me, not the contract, I was confused.

What is this? I couldn’t place my feelings as I stared at the doorway. Was I missing him? Wanting to continue talking about anything not related to work? Or was I supposed to be relieved that he was gone with his nosy, pestering questions as he pretended to care about what I’d been up to for years?

As I rubbed my temple, I looked down at the card he’d given me.

“Catch up?”

I shook my head. Catching up sounded a lot like talk about the good old times. And there were none. Kaden represented the worst part of senior year, and that belonged in my past.

I want nothing to do with those memories.

Yet, I had a harder time figuring out if I wanted anything to do with him now beyond this partnership in the office.

9

KADEN

Twelve Years Ago

I hate chemistry.

I yawned as I shoved my things into my locker and grabbed the biggest, heaviest textbook from the metal shelf inside. Chemistry: The Central Science could go suck a bag of dicks for all I cared. None of it made sense. Since Mom died, I could handle most of my courses. Kody had given up until Dad threatened to revoke our allowances. That was a big enough wake-up call for him, since he loved driving that big truck everywhere and it ate up gas. For me, it took seeing Dad late one night, crying quietly into his hands as he wondered aloud how he’d raise us to not be assholes without a partner like Mom.

I hadn’t taken it to heart in a self-esteem way. Dad loved us. But after Mom passed, all three of us lost our way and fumbled. Dad worked too much those first couple of months. I assumed he was trying to bottle his grief. Kody was acting up, but that wasn’t anything new. He always bordered too close to being an asshole, but lately, he’d been more of a jerk than usual.

And me? I wasn’t sure how to behave and what to do. I’d gone numb, but seeing Dad so desperate not to screw up being our only parent sobered me that night. Afterward, I paid attention and made sure my grades didn’t spiral any further. I toned down my attitude and stopped the sullen, silent treatment I’d made a habit of, but being aloof wasn’t a bad thing. Some people needed space to grieve. I was one of them.

Chemistry, though, would never be something I’d look forward to.

As I entered the classroom, the teacher glanced up and frowned at my tardiness.

Take it or leave it. I’m here, aren’t I?

“Kaden, your group will be at station four today, discussing the laws of thermodynamics.” He glanced at his paper. “You’ll be partnered with Brooke.”

I glanced at her, and she looked down at her book. Her short curly hair seemed frizzier than usual, held back with a single gold clip. Just below it, the tip of her ear turned pink. I couldn’t think of a single time she hadn’t been blushing or shy about being put on the spot. She never raised her hand to answer a question and always spoke too quietly.

Yeah, it would be a blast doing a presentation with her.

I rolled my eyes and headed toward the group I’d been assigned to.

Kody watched as I walked across the room, but I was still too mad at him to look his way. Did he seriously have to take the last order of fries at lunch?

“So, um, Kaden, we each have to do a law,” Paige said. I knew she was Brooke’s BFF. They were inseparable, even going to the Homecoming dance together. That one pothead said Paige was into ladies, but what did he know? That punk was always spreading rumors for the hell of it.

“We’ll take the second law,” Brooke hurried to say.

“Is that an easy one?” I asked.

She smirked at me. “It’s easier.”

I shrugged. Sounds good to me. I appreciated that she knew how to avoid the harder work. Once we buckled down to our tasks, I realized it wouldn’t be so bad. Brooke didn’t stare at me. Or if she did in that annoying way girls sometimes did, she was stealthy enough to hide it well. She didn’t ask me a gazillion lame questions, either, pretending that being partnered with me would elevate her status.

I didn’t get the whole thing behind her band T-shirts and the weird acronyms and doodles she and Paige had penned on their hands. It was probably all girl talk and inside jokes, and I wasn’t interested. That curling line she’d drawn on her hand captured my eye a couple of times, but I was too busy trying to figure out this presentation to think about it.