The locker room was empty, and Lily slipped inside. Nerves were bubbling up and she craved the solitude, hoping time alone would calm her. The other girls would arrive soon, and she wanted this time to psych herself up. She sank down on one of the benches and slipped out of her jeans and sweater. She pulled on her blue track shorts and tank top, jumping up and down to loosen her limbs. Her first race of the season was finally here. It was still hard to believe that she’d made it this far.
Abby had been so relentless in her campaign to get Lily to go back to school, Lily almost hadn’t had a choice. Lily’s arrival on campus initially caused a stir. Reporters camped out to get interviews. Students were bribed in hopes that they might strike up a friendship and get the inside scoop on the famous Lily Riser. Lily was assigned a security escort that first week. But a month into the semester, she was old news, just another college student in the crowd. And now here she was, in the locker room, preparing to run her first track meet of the semester.
When she first considered trying out for the team, she’d been a wreck. She was older than most of the girls by at least four years. She was a mother. There were half a dozen excuses not to do it. Abby called her out yet again.
“Come on, Lilypad, you’re not really going to puss out on this. Try out and see what happens.”
Lily had shown up for tryouts at the last minute and given it her all, finishing with the second-fastest sprint time. Seeing her name on the roster, realizing that she’d made the team, was one of the greatest accomplishments of her life.
“Hey, Riser, someone asked me to give this to you.”
Lily saw Heather, her teammate, approaching with a bouquet of sunflowers. Lily smiled as she took the bouquet and read the attached card.
The faster you run, the faster you see me. It’s a win-win. Love, Scott.
Lily burst out laughing. Heather grinned and gave Lily a playful hip check as she made her way over to her locker.
“Someone’s a smitten kitten.”
Lily smiled, her cheeks flushing. She tucked the bouquet of flowers into her locker before her other teammates, who were now arriving, could join in the teasing. Lily hurried to finish dressing.
If someone had told Lily that she would find love, she would have said that it was impossible. She was focused on being a mom to Sky, helping Wes with David, spending time with Abby. Not to mention juggling a full class load and track practice.
But then one day Lily’s Literature and the American Revolution professor assigned partner projects. Their assignment: write a twelve-page research paper and create a presentation, such as a slide show or a video or even a speech. Lily hated partner assignments. She tried to rack her brain, tried to think of any excuse to avoid the assignment. The public was still obsessed with her case. They wanted intimate details about her life, what she was doing, wearing, eating, thinking. Their obsession drove her crazy. She could already predict the questions her partner might ask: How often did Rick rape her? Did he abuse Sky? Did she miss him? Was she angry with her sister for killing him? It was a curiosity she couldn’t understand. But she knew that the professor wasn’t one of those warm and fuzzy types who’d care about his student’s personal life, and she needed an A in this course to keep her scholarship. That’s how she found herself paired up with Scott Sandoval.
“Lily’s a nice name,” he’d said when she’d introduced herself. Lily held her breath, waiting for that moment of recognition regarding Lily’s now-infamous moniker. The entire world knew Lily Riser, it seemed, except Scott Sandoval. As they got to know each other, Lily learned that Scott was twenty-three. He’d enlisted in the army at eighteen and had completed two tours in Afghanistan. He told Lily this class was just as important to him and they should get to work.
Lily tried to focus on the project. But she found herself drawn to Scott. It wasn’t just his good looks, dark olive skin, jet-black hair, hazel eyes, and dimples that lit up his face when he smiled. He was just so easygoing and he was rarely serious. He said it was his sense of humor that got him through combat and it would get him through college too. Scott spent their study sessions doing impressions of their teacher or fellow students, and when he ran out of those, he’d do spot-on impressions of famous people. By the time class was over, Lily’s stomach hurt from laughing so hard. It was only when he asked her about herself that Lily grew uncomfortable. She said she’d taken some time off to get her life in order and figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. Which wasn’t a lie. Not exactly. Lily had simply omitted the truth.