I Could Read Minds But Never His Sincere Love Chapter 08

I Could Read Minds But Never His Sincere Love Chapter 08

“Traveling? I thought her parents said she went abroad for school.”

“School? Where? Where did she go?”

“No idea. Law school somewhere, from what I heard.”

Abroad. Law school. She’d never said a word about it.

The memory of a seventeen-year-old Hazel came back to him all at once. She had a law book under one arm and a suit three sizes too big for her, and she planted herself in front of him like she owned the room.

“Well? I’m going to be a lawyer. Do I look the part or what?”

She used to love the law.

But she’d sworn to him, clearly, that psychology was her own choice.

The exact conversation rushed back. She’d been eighteen.

“Miles, relax. Psychology is my choice, okay? Don’t make it a thing.”

“Whatever. Like I care.”

Her own choice. She’d chosen it for him.

And now she was in law school. Was she done with psychology?

She’d given up psychology. Had she given up on him too? Was she done loving him?

The room tilted. He managed two steps before his knees buckled, his head catching the sharp corner of the coffee table on his way down.

—

The last thing he heard before the world went black was Hazel’s voice.

“Miles. I don’t want to love you anymore.”

His mother finally pulled her eyes off the TV. She looked at her son sprawled unconscious on the floor and yelled toward the back of the house.

“Arthur! Your son’s on the floor bleeding!”

I let Clara finish and said nothing.

The line went quiet for a moment. I let out a breath.

“Is it bad?”

“Not the head, no. But he’s not okay, Hazel. Will you… do you think you’ll forgive him?”

I laughed, soft. “It’s not about forgiveness. I don’t hate him.”

By the time I hung up, the sun was over the rooftops. The doorbell rang right on schedule.

Julian Cole was on the porch with a stack of books. “You’re up early. You didn’t sleep in?”

I rolled my eyes. “Some of us didn’t sleep at all.”

“All night? All-nighter or not, you’ve still got catch-up to do. Come on, I brought breakfast.”

Julian grew up here, and common law was in his bones in a way it would never be in mine. So he ended up being both my friend and my

—

tutor.

“Julian, you’re the worst…”

I groaned and burrowed under the throw blanket on the couch to get away from him. He hauled me up, covers and all.

“Come on, Hazel. Counselor Hayes. Get up and study, okay?”

[She’s blushing. God, she’s cute.]

Julian’s voice, from inside his head.

I didn’t know what to do with that, so I gave him my best smile. “Mr. Cole, professional opinion? You don’t have the heart to make your cute student work this hard.”

Julian laughed and peeled the blanket off me. Then he bent down and ruffled my hair, and when he looked at me all the teasing vanished from his expression.

“So. Did your professional opinion catch that I have feelings for you?”

Two years later, I had the degree in my hand and a flight home.

On the plane Julian put his head on my shoulder and kept twisting the hem of my shirt between his fingers. He didn’t even realize he was doing it, and it pulled a smile out of me.

“Nervous?”

“Obviously! I’m meeting your parents. What if they hate me? What if they chase me off with a shotgun?”

“Would you run?”

—

“Not a chance. They’d have to bury me first.”