Stay (25 page)

“I hadn’t even gotten to the good part in my dream, so a hot shower will be perfectly fine.”

“I’ll wait here.” She lay back on my bed. “We can walk over to the exam together.”

I hesitated with my hand on the door knob. “That sounds great, but please no more overanalyzing my choice of men. I need to keep my mind focused on the test.”

“You’re going to ace it. You know this stuff inside and out.”

“Let’s hope. I refuse to become the first member of my family not to get the Youngston Fellowship, and I need to ace calculus to get it.”

“You’ll ace it, but so what if you don’t get the fellowship? You’ll still get into grad school, and you’ll be able to do exactly what you want anyway.”

“You don’t know my parents.”

She sat up. “I’ve met them.”

“Meeting them is different than knowing them.”

“Yeah, but you said they wouldn’t mind you getting a ride home with Gage. That makes me question their sanity.” She laughed. “Ok, take that shower. We don’t have much time.”

“I wonder why not.”

“Don’t start. Your alarm would just be going off.”

As if to prove her point, the dinging of my alarm started. Genevieve turned it off, and I headed down the hall to the bathroom. Four hours in the car with Gage. I could hardly wait.

As always, this book would not have been possible without the support of my family. Grant, I can’t imagine taking this journey without you.

Thank you to my wonderful team of beta readers, and to Nicole Stephenson for the fantastic editing. Thanks also to Kelly Simmon of Inkslinger PR for your continued support.

Thanks to all the bloggers who have continued to help me spread the word about my books, and to my readers for giving me the opportunity to share another story with you.