want. What I what to fight pho. And who I want to fight pho.
Smiling, I push open the door to the registrar’s office. It’s time I start fighting for me.
Chapter Six
Trent
I call her — no answer.
I text her — no answer.
And I’m bent out of shape about it.
I joined a CrossFit gym when I moved to town, and so I head there after class, turning off my phone because it’s stressing me the hell out that Trista won’t return my calls.
It’s wrong to date a student… but there aren’t any rules against talking to her.
At the gym, I do my reps alongside a few guys who seem to be buddies.
“You doing anything tonight?” a guy named Matt asks me.
“No, to be honest, I’m pretty exhausted.”
“Come out to O’Malley’s,” Josh says. I learn they are both recently married and have their lives figured out. It reminds me just how much I want Trista.
“I don’t know,” I say. “It’s been a long day.”
“Yeah, but you’re a teacher, right? Biology?” Matt asks.
“No, literature.”
“Well you have to come, then,” Josh says. “It’s Tacos and Trivia Night. And everyone is going to be there.”
“Everyone?”
“Yeah, the guys,” Matt says. “Grady, Vance — oh, and you won’t be the only newbie. I invited that guy, Beckett, too.”
I lift the kettle bell, grunting, thinking it over. I finish my lifts and set the ball aside, wiping sweat from my forehead. “I don’t know Beckett. But I do know trivia. And tacos? Doesn’t sound half bad.”
“So, you’re in?” Matt asks.
I nod, figuring it will be a way to distract myself for a few more hours. Because constantly checking my phone feels a little insane.
After we clean up from the workout, I head over to the bar with Matt and Josh. Their wives are meeting them there. They are friendly, asking me about myself and my job, and I appreciate the effort. I haven’t met many people since moving here. It’s hard to start over.
I must keep checking my phone though, because Matt chuckles, asking me who the girl is.
“What do you mean?”
“Guys only obsessively check their phones if they are waiting to hear from a girl.”
“It’s someone I met yesterday. And damn,” I admit, “she was everything.”
“Like, she was the one?” Josh asks, lifting his eyes.
“Is that possible, to know after one night?”
Josh and Matt laugh, opening the door to O’Malley’s. “You’re asking the wrong guys. We both fell in love at first sight.”
I run a hand over my beard. “So, I’m not crazy?”
Josh laughs. “Oh, I didn’t say that. Falling in love is crazy — but the good kind.”
We enter the bar, and my heart stops.
The guys must notice where my gaze lands.
On her. The one. My one and only.
God, I love her.
“You know Trista?” Matt asks.
She is standing at the bar with a beer in her hand, talking to a woman.
“Yeah… I do… She… Wait, how do you know her?” I ask.
Josh smiles. “Trista is Kaden’s sister. Kaden from the gym.”
Matt claps me on the shoulder, clearly registering my expression. “And let me guess, she’s the girl you fell in love with?”
I nod. “Yeah, she is.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” he asks.
I smirk. “I sure as hell won’t let her walk away.”
Trista
I’m trying to think about how I will respond to Trent — he has called and texted multiple times. But I don’t want to freak him out with my decision.
I’m totally putting myself out there with the choice I made… and I have no idea how he might react.
Standing with Jessa, a local baker and the woman who recently married my brother’s friend Josh, I debate filling her in on everything. But she is still telling me about the wedding cake she designed for a recent wedding and I don’t want to cut her off and start talking about myself. Besides, the cake sounds perfect… and I can’t help but think about hiring her to make my wedding cake.
Which, sure, might be putting the cart before the horse, but I see my pho-ever with Trent… and I need to let him know that. When Jessa finishes her story, I get out my phone, pulling up his text.
“What are you smiling about?” she asks.
“A guy. His name is Trent.”
“Yeah?” she smiles. “Are you like, dating?”
“I’m not sure. But I need to see him.”
“Like, right now?”
I blink back tears, not expecting them to rise so suddenly. But I realize in that moment I can’t wait another minute to tell him how I feel. “I