Chapter Thirteen
My whole body was achy the next morning. I didn’t remember sledding being so painful, but maybe it was and I just blocked those memories out.I wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed yet, so I decided to browse on my phone and check my email. Alex had sent me at least twenty random memes—she must have been bored last night—and there was an email from my mom. I hesitated for a minute, nervous about what I was about to read, but when I opened it, I sighed in relief.
Tamsin-
Will it conflict with the LSAT? You know how important that is. What about the internship?
“Well, that’s not a no,” I mumbled under my breath. I typed up a quick response.
Mom,
It’s only 4 weeks. I would be back in time to take the LSAT. And I could still do the internship after I return. Traveling abroad is something I really want to do. Plus I get school credit for it and it’ll probably look really good on my applications for law school, don’t you think?
I heard a knock at my door, so reluctantly I got out of bed, but I kept my comforter wrapped around my shoulders as I answered the door. Each step hurt from my feet to my shoulders, so I was moving pretty slowly this morning. Maybe a hot shower would help loosen up my achy muscles.
When I finally opened the door, there was a man in brown coveralls holding a clipboard in one hand and a rather large silver bag was on the ground next to him.
“Special delivery for Tamsin Seger,” the delivery guy read off the clipboard.
“That’s me,” I said, wondering who would possibly be sending me anything. My grandma used to send me monthly care packages, but she passed away the summer before my sophomore year. Those packages were always delivered to the dorm office, never directly to my dorm room.
“Just sign here,” he said, handing me the clipboard. I passed it back to him after signing my name. He took it back and then handed me a brown box he had pulled from this bag. It wasn’t heavy, but it was freezing cold which took me by surprise. “Have a nice day.”
“Thanks, you too,” I mumbled while examining the box. There wasn’t a return address or anything on it, so I guessed I had to open it up to figure out who sent it to me.
I found a pair of scissors in my desk drawer and cut the tape on the edges of the box, revealing its contents. A pint of Spumoni ice cream and a note that read:
You weren’t joking. This stuff is nearly impossible to find! Hope you have a great day.
Your friend, T.C.
I couldn’t believe that he was able to find my favorite ice cream. Why did he have to be so thoughtful? And smart…and kind…and funny and…ugh, perfect.It made my conviction to just be friends that much harder to stand by. In fact, if I was being honest with myself, I was falling for him hard, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The one thing I knew for certain was: it might be freezing outside, but it’s never too cold for ice cream.
I folded up the note and slipped it inside of my copy of Little Women for safe keeping just as Alex was walking through the door.
“What are you doing today?” she asked as she towel-dried her hair.
I started to tell her I had no plans, but then a thought occurred to me. “Want to do some shopping?”
“I do need a new pair of running shoes,” she said cheerfully.
Tobias had been so thoughtful with hunting down my favorite ice cream that I wanted to reciprocate the gesture—even if my entire body was actively rejecting the idea of doing anything other than lying in bed.
“I’ll take a quick shower, then I’ll be ready,” I told her as I put my ice cream in the freezer of my mini fridge.
The hot shower did help a little, but I felt certain my newfound mission was keeping me distracted from the soreness from our sledding adventure. I had decided to try to find a copy of Lonesome Dove. He had mentioned loving the mini-series that first day but never reading the book.I wasn’t sure if it was even still in print, so I figured a used bookstore may be my best bet. Plus, Alex loved to browse antique stores and flea markets, so she was game.
“Oh!” Alex exclaimed, holding up a book with a ventriloquist doll on the cover. “I read these when I was a kid! I used to think they were so scary. I bet if I read it now, I’d just laugh.”
“I never did get into those. I was more of a Baby-Sitter’s Club kind of girl,” I said as I continued to peruse.
If she thought it was odd that I was browsing the Westerns section, she didn’t say anything. She probably didn’t even notice because when I glanced back at her, she was sitting down against the bookshelf with the book she found.
I couldn’t believe my luck. It appeared to be a well-loved copy—the yellowed pages were curled at the top corner and the cover had a small tear, but I didn’t think he’d mind.
Satisfied with my find, I couldn’t wait to get back to campus, and to my ice cream, but I knew Alex wasn’t close to being finished yet. She could spend hours browsing through other people’s junk.
“What do you think about this for the room?” Alex asked, holding up a large mirror with a gaudy brass frame.
“Where in our minuscule dorm room do you plan on hanging that monstrosity up?”
“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “Good point. It’s fun, though.”
“Yeah, if you’re Marie Antoinette.”
She stuck her tongue out at me, but she put the mirror back on the shelf and said, “Okay, I’m bored now. Let’s go eat.”
She linked her arm through mine and led the way.
As we waited for our food, Alex talked about her upcoming track meet and I casually browsed through the pages of the book. I still had no desire to read a Western, but I couldn’t help but smile thinking about Tobias.
“What has you so distracted and smiley?” Alex asked, her head tilted to the side.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Oh please, I recognize all the signs,” she said knowingly. “You’re in love with someone, and I’m pretty salty you haven’t told me about him yet.”
I tightened my lips, refusing to speak it out loud. Is she right? Am I in love with Tobias?
“Fine, you don’t have to tell me yet. But just know that I know.” She cocked an eyebrow, but luckily our waitress had chosen that exact moment to bring us our food, effectively distracting her from the interrogation regarding my love life. Or lack thereof because, honestly, I still wasn’t sure if she was right or not.