Plus, I wanted an excuse to see her outside of class because I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere within the confines of that lab.
“Sure,” she finally said with a shrug. “Whatever.”
With that, she hurried off to her next class and I watched her disappear with a smile on my face.
She may not have been interested in me yet, but by the end of the semester, she would be.
***
I sat on my mom’s porch holding my acceptance letter and remembering that day.
The first time I’d seen Anna had seemed insignificant at the time. She had been nothing more than a cute girl in my class. Back then, I had never met a girl who didn’t want to date me, so Anna had thrown me completely off my game, making me even more intrigued by her.
That entire semester had flown by in a blur. Anna and I had studied together almost every day and we both ended up acing that class. We set the curve on almost every test and slowly became friends. When our final grades came out, I suggested we went out to celebrate.
That had been the night things shifted between us.
I had always wanted more with Anna, and finally, she had started to see something worthwhile in me.
I smiled to myself as the memory washed over me. It had been years since I had last seen her, but I could still clearly picture her face in my mind. I was sure she was still just as beautiful as ever.
Sitting there holding my future in my hands, I wondered what she was doing and tried to imagine what her life was like now. Did she look the same? Where had life taken her? Was she still in Savage, or had she moved somewhere far away?
Was her life everything she’d always wished it would be?
Did she still think of me like I still thought of her?
CHAPTER 3
Anna
“Garrett!” I yelled. “Hurry up, sweetie! Mommy’s going to be late!”
I ran around my apartment, grabbing my things and quickly throwing Garrett’s backpack together. He was moving slower than ever that morning and I knew I was going to be late for class. It was my first day of law school and I couldn’t afford to miss anything.
When Garrett’s backpack was ready, I grabbed his lunch from the fridge and threw it inside. I then zipped the backpack and ran to G
arrett’s room.
He was sitting on his bed with his shoes on his feet. He had one foot tucked underneath him and the other poised on the ground. He held the shoelaces in his hands, desperately trying to tie them properly.
I smiled and sunk to my knees. “Here. Let me help you.”
“No!” he said, jerking his foot away from me. His face was set in the stubborn lines I was encountering more and more frequently lately. “I can do it!”
I swallowed a sigh. “Honey,” I said patiently, “Mommy can’t be late for class today, okay? We have to go. You can tie your shoes tomorrow.”
“But…” he began, but I cut him off with a look that was more powerful than any protest he could throw my way.
He settled down with a pout and I grabbed his foot, gently pulling it to me and tying the laces.
When he was finally ready to go, he jumped to his feet and I wrapped his backpack around his shoulders.
“Come on,” I said.
We hurried to the living room and I picked up my bag. With Garrett’s hand in mine, we ran outside to the parking lot.
I buckled Garrett into his car seat and jumped inside. Firing up the engine, I threw the car in reverse and sped out of my parking spot. When I finally reached the highway, I checked the clock and groaned. I only had twenty minutes to get to class and still had to drop Garrett off at the campus daycare.