puts her hands around my neck and tows me out to the dance floor. The song is a gorgeous fiddle ballad. I rest my cheek against hers and sigh. “I feel lucky tonight,” I whisper.
“Mmm,” she agrees.
“Although you seem a little distracted,” I point out. “Are you having deep thoughts about grad school?”
“Some,” she admits. “You haven’t asked me about it at all.”
“That’s intentional,” I say, kissing her jaw quickly. “I don’t want to influence your decision. It’s not my place.” I’d never ask Daphne to pare back her dreams on my account.
She pulls back a titch and studies me. “I’m trying to figure out how much is at stake.”
“Thousands of dollars,” I point out. “Is that what you mean?”
“I guess.” She tilts her head uncertainly. “Would you think it was odd if I stayed in Vermont?”
“Odd?” My feet forget to move, and we come to a stop, while couples sway around us. “Not odd, baby. I’d be a lucky man if you stayed in Vermont.”
“Oh,” she says, her voice breathy. “I didn’t want to assume. I’d always said I was leaving.”
“Whoa. Don’t leave on my account. Although if you end up in Carolina, we’ll deal. I’d have to stay behind in Burlington and finish my degree. But that won’t take forever. Then, unless you throw me over, I’ll probably end up applying to grad school near wherever you are.”
She blinks. “You’d do that?”
“Of course I would. I’d sell my house and follow you anywhere, Shipley. If that’s what you needed.”
“Rickie,” she says, placing a hand over my heart. “That’s a lot for me to ask.”
“When I find something good, I don’t let it go. How long does a public health degree take, anyway? Two years, right?”
“Or four, if I have to go part-time. There are a lot of variables.”
I tuck my arm around her waist, and guide her to dance with me again. “Make a spreadsheet, baby. Figure out your next move. Choosing a school is hard. Once upon a time I chose the wrong one. I went against my gut, and it almost blew up my life. What does your gut say?”
She takes a breath and blows it out. “My gut really likes the idea of getting a full ride and finishing in two years.”
“Really.” I think that over for a moment. “I thought you wanted to pick the best program.”
“I thought I did, too,” she admits. “But I like the people I work with now. I trust them. That means more to me than it used to.”
“Okay. How long do you have to decide?”
“Two weeks.”
“That long, huh?”
She smiles up at me. “I spent my whole life trying to do better than Moo U. I thought I needed the top of the list. Someone’s external seal of approval. But Moo U took me in when I had nowhere to go. My family bails me out when I need their help. It really annoys me to be wrong, but—”
“You? Really?”
She pinches me. “Behave. I’m trying to be humble, here. It doesn’t come easily to me.”
“Sorry. Go on.”
“I like my life in Burlington. I love you…” She traces her fingertip across the nape of my neck. “And it sounds so lovely to just say yes to Moo U, and the people who already love me.”
“I could get on board with this,” I agree.
“I’d be around when my family needed help. I’d be close by for Dylan and Chastity’s wedding.”
“Mmm,” I murmur in her ear. “You’d be close by when I needed you underneath me. Naked.”
“That too,” she says. “That too.”
I can’t take it anymore. So I kiss her slowly, right there in the middle of the dance floor.
That’s when the song ends. And someone picks up the microphone and declares that it’s time to cut the cake.
“Break it up, you two,” Dylan says, elbowing me. “There’s cake to be had. Hey, Daph? Did you decide about grad school?”
Daphne pulls back and smiles up at me. “I think I just did.”
“No way!” her twin brother says. “What’s the verdict?”
But she can’t even tell him. Because I’m kissing her again.
Thank you for reading Waylaid! Turn the page for Sarina’s next book, Boyfriend, which is set in Burlington on the Moo U hockey team! Or grab your copy of Boyfriend now.
Chapter One: Boyfriend
About Boyfriend
The dreamiest player on the Moo U hockey team hangs a flyer on the bulletin board, and I am spellbound:
Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will talk hockey with your dad.