Distraction by Angela McPherson Read Free Book Online Page A

missing your opportunity to play football here?"
    "Sorry about that. Everything happened so fast. I didn ' t have time to
think about it. I guess I just wanted to know if you thought me being here was
a good idea." Tristan paused, loading the chip I threw at him with salsa,
and then shoved the entire bite in his mouth. "By the way, Uncle Kevin set
me up in one of his town homes. I still have unpacked boxes cluttered all over
the place. I could use your help." I laughed at the visual. Tristan was
famous for procrastinating.
    "I ' ll see what I can do."
    Our waitress carried out our food then. Tristan ' s fajitas
sizzled on the cast iron plate in front of him, and he didn ' t waste any time.
He forked the beef and shoved it in his mouth. The look on his face–priceless.
You ' d think he ' d been starved or something.
    "Can I get you anything else?" The waitress placed
a dish of homemade tortillas beside Tristan.
    "No, thank you. I think we ' re okay for now."
She smiled kindly before walking away. "I ' m going to go
out on a limb here and say you like the food."
    "Yep," he said, mumbling around the food in his
mouth.
    We ate and talked about our classes. When I asked what he ' d been up to
over the summer, he changed the subject. I thought the sudden switch seemed odd
and would ' ve asked him about it, but he kept throwing questions at me
before I had the chance.
    "I ' m so full right now you could probably roll me out of here,"
I said with a much too full stomach. After dinner, we ordered half a dozen
sopapillas, which we devoured equally in no time.
    "We should have ordered a side of ice cream, too."
I laughed, wondering how his belly wasn ' t as round as a Buddha statue, and
then felt sick from the aftershock of laughing. Tristan and I shared a passion
for good food, but I really overdid eating tonight. When the waitress came by
with our check, Tristan shooed my hand away. Usually we ' d split the
bill, but being too stuffed to argue, I let him pay.
    When we walked outside, the air still held on to the sting of
heat from earlier in the day. The full moon shined down on us in the dark sky,
and my mind drifted to us holding hands under the stars. I really needed to
stop fantasizing about him. I glanced over at Tristan. Pieces of his dark hair
blew across his brows near his eyes. I clenched my fists to keep from moving
the pieces away.
    "So, are you going to tell me the rest of your big news,
or was that an excuse to get me alone? You know, you don ' t have to make
up excuses." I playfully bumped my shoulder against his arm, then blushed
and looked away. I couldn't believe I let that slip out of my mouth. Tristan
didn ' t comment, and when I looked back up at his face, I found him
grinning. But something in his eyes didn ' t fit.
    "Enough with the suspense. What ' s going on?"
    We stopped walking. Both of us stood next to the passenger
side door of his car. The warm breeze shifted direction, blowing strands of
hair in my face. Tristan reached to move the loose strands behind my ear. The
innocent gesture created a warm tingle to spread throughout my chest. My pulse
raced as we stood next to each other. His warm brown eyes shined under the
street lamp.
    "I ' m in love," he began. My heart took off, now dancing
frantically in my chest. I ' d dreamed he ' d utter those words to me for so long, and if my heart didn ' t slow, I ' d go into
cardiac arrest before he revealed anything more.
    I lifted my foot, ready to breech the small space separating
us, only to stop short when he finished his sentence.
    "With this girl I met last year. I ' ve mentioned her
to you. Her name is Kellie, and she ' s the one." He hesitated.
"We ' re engaged."
    My once racing heart plummeted to a standstill. My fingers,
hands, every part of me felt numb. I could see his lips moving, but couldn't
hear his words. His face lit with such emotion it hurt to see it, hurt to feel
it, and then sadly, sound made its way to my ears again.
    "You know, she kind of