Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,96
then shook his head. “Don’t tell me.”
“Didn’t plan on it.” But I had to admit, I was looking forward to her birthday more and more.
We’d turned in the second rental car and just took the oversized SUV to make the drive to Cambridge. It had two rows of seats in the back, and Frankie ended up curled up against me and sleeping. Not that I minded. She’d been flushed and brighter eyed by the time we made it upstairs and in a very cuddly mood. In fact, convincing her to head to Harvard had taken no effort whatsoever.
Pliant Frankie was sweet, but always made me a tad wary. Jake gave me shit about overthinking things, but I never wanted to take advantage of that heart of hers.
Ever.
I woke her as we got close, and she gave me a sleepy smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pass out on you.”
Pulling a strand of her hair away from the corner of her mouth, I grinned. “I didn’t mind. Feel better?”
Archie shifted in his seat to glance back at us. Coop was still conked out in the far back. Him, we left sleeping. Jake could probably have used a nap too, but he’d been in an insufferably good mood by the time they were done, so Archie threw the keys at him.
“We’re almost there, Baby Girl,” Jake said over his shoulder. Frankie smothered a yawn and stretched before she tucked her head back against my shoulder.
“Cool, are you sure we’re going to be able to do a tour?”
It irked me that she hadn’t gotten to come up here over the summer like she’d planned. Like so many other things, we were going to find a way to make up for it.
“Of course, I’m sure,” Archie said with a sly grin, then held up his phone. “Did you know you can download an app from the school to do a self-guided tour? We may not get to meet with professors or counselors, though I bet we could find a way to make that happen. But we can see the school and learn about the programs.”
Which allowed us not only the freedom to wander the campus, but also to take our time and linger where we wanted. Her whole face lit up. Yes, this had been an excellent plan.
“I did the virtual tour online and I did, like, three of their information sessions over the summer.”
“Three?” I didn’t laugh. Jake didn’t laugh.
Archie? Yeah, he laughed, but the grin he sent her was more proud than teasing. “Of course you did. I bet you could give us the tour yourself.”
“Maybe,” she said with a sniff. “Of course, I’m not the snot who got accepted. Why didn’t you do your homework?”
“Who says I didn’t, babe?”
“Prove it.”
“No betting,” I said before Archie could respond, and he flipped me off with an easy smile.
“Killjoy.”
“That’s my name,” I drawled. “Don’t wear it out.”
Frankie cracked up, and Archie grinned as he faced forward. From behind us, Coop let out a groan. “What’s so funny?”
“We’re almost to Harvard,” Frankie informed him. “Wakey wakey.”
The pure excitement in her tone was contagious. My only concern about the trip up here was that she’d been waitlisted and that had been a hard pill for her to swallow. Yet she displayed none of that reticence now.
If anything, she was bouncing in her seat, and I wasn’t the only one laughing. Then again—Holy shit, look at this place. From the moment we got there, she waxed and waned between awed and amazed to adorable and enthusiastic.
I was glad we’d all brought heavier coats and gloves. There was still snow on the ground, not a lot, but enough to make it picturesque. And enough for a few snowballs. Our breath was visible in the air, and the nip of it kept Frankie’s cheeks red and cheerful. Nothing quite matched the shine in her eyes. It was hard to miss the wistful expressions she gave some of the buildings.
The tour on the phone offered us a lot of data, and I swore Frankie and Jake were a pair of nerds about it. Particularly when the tour offered history behind a building or the architecture or pretty much anything about the school. We kept going until almost nightfall, and we still hadn’t seen everything.
“We can come back tomorrow, babe,” Archie promised. “We’ve got a hotel a couple of miles from here, and we don’t fly back until the day after tomorrow.”