Off the Record (Record #1)(109)

He adjusted her so that she was lying on the pillows instead of his chest before finding and sifting through his shorts. He returned a second later, looking a little…embarrassed. After everything that had happened between them, she didn’t know why he would be embarrassed. Actually, Liz had never seen him like that.

“Here you go,” Brady said, handing her a small box.

Liz sat up and took the box from him, narrowing her eyes. “What’s this?”

“Just open it.”

Liz bit her lip, wondering what she would find inside. She opened the box and stared down at the small necklace. Her heart sped up. Brady had gotten her jewelry. No one had ever bought her jewelry.

She pulled it out of the box, the long chain falling and pooling against the cabana sheets, and brought the face of the necklace closer to her.

“It’s, uh…called a memory locket,” he whispered, running his hand through his hair. “It made me think of you.”

Liz was stunned. The necklace itself was a small, circular, see-through locket with a silver border that could be opened, and even smaller charms were placed inside. Her stomach twisted when she saw what charms were in her necklace—an airplane, a key, the number four, and a yellow gemstone.

“I love it,” she whispered. How could he be so completely sweet like this…knock her right off her feet?

“Good. I was worried…well, I don’t know if you wear stuff like that,” he said with a shrug.

“No, I do,” she told him, staring up into his deep dark eyes. “But why the number and the gemstone?”

The other two were obvious.

“I got the four for the Fourth of July, when I won your vote,” Brady said, his eyes showing what that day had meant to him. “And the yellow stone is the birthstone for November.”

“I don’t have a November birthday,” Liz said. It didn’t even matter to her that he had gotten her birthday wrong; she loved it.

“That’s when the election is over,” he said quietly.

Chapter 29

PROMISES WORTH KEEPING

Liz didn’t see Brady again before school started. The primary was now a week away, and he barely had time to breathe, let alone sneak away to see her. She expected nothing less, though she did find herself wishing more and more that she could be there for him.

The primary made it hard to concentrate on anything else…like school starting, or her new research job, or the paper. Knowing that so much was on the line for Brady made her nervous and irritable.

Liz had tried de-stressing by hanging out with Victoria, but by the end of the day Victoria had claimed to need a Xanax to deal with the stress rolling off of Liz in waves. Even though Liz wouldn’t tell Victoria what was going on, Victoria still loved her.

By the time the Friday before school got there, Liz had totally forgotten that she had agreed to help Hayden move. He had called her that morning and asked if she had still planned to help. Hoping that it would get her mind off of everything, Liz had agreed and headed over to his old place.

The moving process had certainly been a distraction, as it was physically demanding, but it did nothing to clear things up with Hayden. They had hung out and joked together along with his track friends. When they finished the move, the group got lunch and Hayden drove her back to her car.

“I really appreciated your help today,” Hayden said, hopping out of his car and walking with her over to where hers was parked.

“I don’t know how helpful I was,” Liz joked.

“You were great. Everyone thought so.” He smiled his charming smile and moved closer to her.

“Well, I’m glad I could help. Thankfully I don’t have to move or else I’d be calling up you and all your friends to help me.”

“You know I’d help,” Hayden said.

He moved forward to wrap his arms around her, and Liz backed up quickly. “I’m in desperate need of a shower,” she said, embarrassed.

She just couldn’t have him touch her. She felt bad enough about D.C. She couldn’t lead him on to believe this was going anywhere as long as she was still trying to figure things out with Brady.

“Oh, me too,” Hayden said, as if he hadn’t been trying to get closer to her.

“I’ll, uh…see you around,” she said, unlocking the door. “We start on Monday?”

Hayden nodded. “I’ll be in Sunday to finalize the first run, but I’ll see you on Monday, unless you wanted to get together sometime this weekend.”

Damn he was good. He made it seem so offhand…almost as if he wasn’t asking her out. Almost.

“I think Monday is probably best. I have to get ready for school and my new job, but thanks…”

“Well, Monday then,” Hayden said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, with a smile before walking to his car.

Liz opened her door and sank into the car with a huff. She had just turned down Hayden Lane.

She had never guessed she would be in this position. And she had the strange realization that he probably would ask her out again. Maybe he even thought she was playing hard to get or something after D.C. She needed to figure out what she was going to do about that, because she couldn’t keep obsessing so much over what she would do if he came on to her again.

The weekend rolled by undeterred by any other mishaps, and soon Liz was back on campus, walking among the familiar brick buildings with Victoria. She had missed the madness of the beginning of the school year. Students were wandering all over campus. Freshmen were holding out maps, trying to find where their classrooms were, and looking winded from walking up the massive hill on Stadium Drive from the dorms. Upperclassmen milled around the Pit, handing out fliers and trying to cajole freshmen into joining their student organization. It was a madhouse, but with an energy and brilliance that few other places rivaled.