True North Book 3 - Finding Now Kate and Sam by Allie Juliette Mousseau Page B

going to cut it after what had happened. My options: say hello like a normal person and walk away, not say anything at all … that got me thinking. It was obvious she was a survivor, and I was guessing under the hard exterior, she had a soft center. So my advances had been easy for her to deflect, they put her into survivor mode. What if I didn’t say anything?
    At that moment my fellow classmate, Lexy Bordeau, came up to me to tell me how much fun she and her friends had had at the concert Chasing North had played on Saturday night. She was wondering if we had a website and Facebook page.
    Nice timing. A little serendipity never hurt. I walked in with Lexy while she was raving about the performance and how the crowd reacted and how Chasing North was so great we could go all the way if we wanted.
    Before I knew it I was at my seat and Lexy decided to sit with me. Not what I meant to have happen, but it was what it was. I focused on the lecture and let the cards fall where they may.
    The afternoon buzzer went off and everyone gathered their stuff and took off. I made sure I procrastinated just enough so I’d be one of the last students, but not enough so that it was obvious I’d done it deliberately. I sauntered down the steps and casually welcomed her back. To my surprise, she stopped me for a short conversation.
    Her eyes. Her beautiful pale blue eyes … no I wasn’t imagining it. They pleaded and grasped for something she was too afraid to name or touch.
    Tonight had to work.

    Chapter Ten
    “Come to Me”
    Goo Goo Dolls
     
    Catherine
    “When I said I wanted to take you home, I didn’t really mean via city transit,” Sam said lightly. He wasn’t taunting or making fun, and his remark didn’t set me off.
    He got comfortable on the loveseat while I grabbed us a couple of beers from the fridge. I took a kitchen chair with me and sat opposite him.
    “Thanks.” He opened the bottle and looked me over. He made feel very conscious of the fact that I was still wearing my “professor” clothes.
    “Give me a second.” I went over to my bedroom area to grab some clothes to change into and saw the new clothes I’d thrown on the bed earlier. All of the adrenaline I had going for me crashed at that moment and I breathed out a huge sigh. I bowed my head but tried not to feel utterly defeated as I turned back around to face my new friend.
    “I won’t hold you to anything you said out on the roof,” I said. “I need to make that clear because I’m more complicated than you could possibly imagine.”
    “Try me,” he challenged.
    “Okay then. Take a look.” I indicated the bed.
    Sam came over. “Jeans and a t-shirt? Nice. Love the shoes.” He shook his head, confused. “Okay, I’m not sure what I’m looking at here, Jolie.”
    “They’re pretty harmless, right? Just clothes.”
    His brow creased in consternation. He was trying to put the pieces together, but I hadn’t given him everything he needed to do it.
    “That would have been one of my favorite outfits … a little over six years ago,” I offered. “Instead I only wear that stuff now.” I pointed to my open closet.
    “Your work clothes?”
    “My self-imposed work clothes. Professors at UW are pretty laid back and pretty much wear anything they want,” I explained.
    “Okay.” He turned to me. “And obviously you’ve bought these recently and never worn them.”
    “How do you know?”
    “They still have the tags,” he said softly.
    I shook my head. “Of course.”
    “We all have a story, Jolie.”
    “No. We don’t all have a story like mine. And don’t get me wrong, some people have wonderful stories, while others have terrible ones, and I’m sure some even have more horrible stories than mine—or at least different. Pain is pain however you go through it. But my pain has become a monster that I can’t fight.”
    “I’ll help you take it on.” He was so sincere.
    I stared down at the clothes, attempting to understand. “Why