Dating Texas (Discovering Me #3)

by Ann Maree Craven

  Killian took the coffee gratefully. “Thank you.”

  Mrs. Jones lowered herself into the chair across from him and sipped her own mug. “Today is supposed to be the coldest day of the month. You shouldn’t be out running.”

  “I just…” He couldn’t find the words for what he felt.

  Her face softened in sympathy. “The holidays can be hard when we miss people.”

  “Is that why you’re here on campus? Why you haven’t gone home for the holiday?” The questions slipped out, and he suddenly knew how Diego must feel after voicing things he shouldn’t. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

  Mrs. Jones was still for a moment before a sigh shook her entire body. “I lost my family two years ago next week. My husband and my little girl were in a car accident. I don’t reveal personal things about me to my students, Killian, but I know what that look on your face means. You’ve held yourself apart from this school since you came. Don’t think I don’t notice.” She tapped her nose. “I see everything. The last couple months seem to have changed for you. Your family isn’t here, Killer, but you aren’t alone.”

  Her words hit him hard, but he tried to laugh them off. “There is something inherently wrong with you calling me Killer.”

  “I can be cool.” She smirked.

  “Sure.” He hid his smile by taking a sip of coffee. The headmistress wasn’t so bad, but she definitely wasn’t cool.

  She flashed him a smile before getting to her feet. “Merry Christmas, Killian.”

  “Merry Christmas.”

  After she left, he finished eating and headed back to his room. When he got there, Diego wasn’t anywhere to be found. That was probably for the best. He wanted to FaceTime his family, but he wasn’t ready for the millions of questions they’d bombard Diego with.

  He kicked out of his shoes and jumped onto his bed before pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling his mom. It rang three times before going to voicemail.

  That was strange. She rarely missed his calls. Even when she was working, it seemed like she kept her phone on hand on the off chance he’d call.

  Dialing Zoey, Killian waited for her to answer. Same thing. When her voicemail picked up, he started talking. “Hey, Zoe. It’s your brother. I just needed to talk to you or Mom. It sucks being here on Christmas Eve. Please call me.” He hated the desperation in his voice, but if there was one person he could speak to that way, it was Zoey. She wouldn’t cry like Rory. She wouldn’t feel instantly guilty like his mom.

  No, she’d just be Zoe. Understanding Zoe, his best friend.

  The guys would give him so much grief for being best friends with his thirteen-year-old sister, but he didn’t care. They wouldn’t understand.

  Throwing his phone onto the end of the bed, he released a long breath.

  He spent the next few hours alternating between watching TV and playing Zelda. He sucked compared to Diego, but it occupied his mind.

  Diego didn’t return, and Killian hated just sitting there alone. He needed to move, to do something. He wasn’t in the right frame of mind to work out, so the arena was out of the question.

  Lately, Diego gave him the escape he needed. With Diego nowhere to be found, he thought through who else was around. Kenny already left for DC. Wylder was at her parents' house celebrating with Becks and Nicky.

  There was Will, but…nah. That would require too much talking.

  And if he didn’t want to talk, there was only one place he wanted to be.

  By the time he walked all the way to the stables, it was lunchtime. He ignored his growling stomach as he stepped into the heated barn. The smell of manure gave him some perverse sense of peace. Here he could almost imagine he was back home, readying Jasmine, a.k.a. Baby Girl, for the Christmas Eve ride.

  Horses hung their heads over the stall half-doors, snorting at him as he passed. It was too cold to take them out into the fields, so they were stuck in their stalls.

  Yara’s brown eyes bore into him as he approached. “Hey, girl.” He smiled, brushing his fingers over her long chestnut nose.

  She pressed the end of her nose into his hand, and he smiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring you a treat today.”

  “Try these.” Andrea appeared and held up a bag of baby carrots. “I hadn’t made it to her stall yet.”

  “What are you doing here?” Killian studied the young woman who tended the horses. “It’s Christmas Eve.”

  She shrugged. “Someone has to make sure these guys are fed.” She looked to Yara. “And gals, sorry.”

  Killian took the bag of carrots and removed one. He held it in his palm, and Yara snatched it, chomping away. Just being with the horses made him feel closer to his family. Mrs. Jones said he wasn’t alone, but it was hard not to feel like it on a day like today.

  Andrea moved on to another stall, and Killian reached for his phone to text Diego. He could at least hang with him for Christmas Eve. But his pocket was empty, and he realized he’d left his phone in his dorm.

  With a shrug, he opened Yara’s stall and scooted by her before shutting the door. Lowering himself to the straw-covered ground, he leaned back against the wall and rested his arm on one bent knee.

  Yara turned her eyes on him.

  “Don’t look at me like that.” He met her gaze. “The school stables are a perfectly acceptable place to spend Christmas Eve.”

  Yara snorted.

  “I don’t care if you believe me, but I’m fine. What do I have to complain about? I’m at a school that gives me the chance to be seen by NHL scouts. I have this guy…”

  Yara stamped her foot.

  “Yes, it’s Diego. You happy now, you old beast.” He couldn’t take her wide-eyed gaze anymore. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t nice. You’re not old.” Leaning forward against his knee, he picked at a piece of straw. “I don’t know where he went today. Is it completely selfish to feel abandoned? Like…we were supposed to do this whole ‘Christmas without our families’ thing together. And no, don’t ask, because I don’t know if we’re dating now. I just know I like it when he smiles and when he asks me a million questions.”

  He sighed. “And basically, when he does anything else. He’s smart, Yara. Way smarter than me. Next to him, I’m just this braindead hockey player who can’t do anything else. I don’t come from money. I’m a nobody. He’s the son of some tech god, and he’s planning to be a superhero saving the planet. Do we even match?”

  Yara nudged the side of his head with her nose, and he reached up to rub the side of her neck. “I know what you’re going to say. ‘Stop being so hard on yourself, Killer.’ It’s what you always say, Yara. Get some new material.”

  He laughed to himself. If he wasn’t already pathetic before, there’d be no disputing it if anyone saw him spilling his guts to a horse.

  He lifted his voice in a high-pitched imitation of what he imagined Yara would sound like “Get off your butt, Killian, and get out of my stall.”

  Throwing the piece of straw, he stood. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you.”

  “Don’t be such a pathetic loser,” he said for her.

  He patted her back. “Don’t be so hard on me, girl. Not today.”

  Giggling reached his ears, and for a second, he thought he imagined it. But then it came again. Turning, he found familiar green eyes peering into the stall.

  His thoughts halted, and he couldn’t move.

  “Zoe,” Rory called behind her. “I think Killian has lost his mind.”

  Zoe appeared at the door. “That would have required him to have a mind to lose.” She grinned. “Surprise!”

  That got him moving. They stepped back as he exited the stall and shut the door. As he turned to them, Rory launched herself forward. He caught her around the waist and hugged her like he thought she’d disappear if he let go.

  “You’re here?” He set Rory down and looked to Zoe. “How? What? Why?”

  Rory bounced on her toes. “Ooh, also when and who! It’s us! Now!”
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  Zoe laughed. “Hey, brother.”

  Killian closed the distance between them, pulling her into his arms.

  “I’d like to not be squeezed to death on Christmas Eve,” Zoe wheezed.

  “Merry Christmas!” Rory shouted. “We’re your present from—”

  “Shh.” Zoe stepped away from Killian and put a hand over Rory’s mouth.

  Andrea stepped out of one of the stalls, smiling when she saw them. “Hello.”

  Killian came to his senses. “Andrea, these are my sisters, Zoe and Rory.”

  Rory looked around the stables. “Do you take care of the horses?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s so cool. Killian took care of the horses on the ranch before he left.”

  Killian laughed. “I mucked stalls. I didn’t run the place.”

  “You should have.” Rory crossed her arms, and the stubborn tilt of her shoulders reminded Killian just how much he’d missed her.

  Wrapping an arm around each of his sisters, he led them toward the door, nodding a goodbye to Andrea. “How’d you guys find me here?”

  Zoe shrugged. “It really wasn’t that hard. Mom met with your headmistress when we arrived from the airport to make sure we had day passes to be on campus. I think she’s still with her. We checked your dorm, but you weren’t there. Some guy named Will told us you weren’t at the arena, so Rory asked if there were horses on campus. She knew that was where you’d be.”

  It never ceased to amaze him how well his sisters knew him.

  A blast of freezing air struck them as they made their way outside, and they huddled together on the walk to the administration building. The day’s weather didn’t bother Killian, not anymore. Every bit of doubt or sadness he felt disappeared the moment he’d heard Rory giggle in that barn.

  His sisters always did that for him. They took care of him and he in turn looked out for them.

  “When you guys didn’t answer my calls, I assumed you were too busy with Christmas stuff to talk to me.”

  Zoey swatted him upside the head. “Well, that was a stupid thought.”

  Rory nodded. “We were on an airplane. It was so cool.”

  His sisters didn’t get opportunities like this. They didn’t get to travel and see new places. He didn’t know what his mom had to do to make it happen. Maybe work extra hours or beg her boss for a loan. He hated thinking what strings were attached, but it also meant more to him than he’d ever be able to explain.

  Inside the administration building was a lounge with couches and a coffee cart. He saw his mom before she saw him. Her light-brown hair was pulled back away from her tired-looking face, but she was still as beautiful as ever.

  When she saw him, her entire face lit up. He released his sisters and rushed forward, not caring what anyone else thought if they saw him collapse into his mother’s arms.

  Most of the time, he was the strong one, the brooding athlete who took care of his family. But sometimes, he needed someone to take care of him.

  His mom held him tightly. “Merry Christmas, son,” she whispered.

  “Mom.” He pulled back. “Thank you.” It wasn’t enough, but she understood him. “How are you guys here? Did Mrs. Martinez come through with the loan?”

  She studied his face for a moment before brushing a thumb across his cheek. “Yes. All that matters now is that we’re here. Our family is together for the holiday.” She reached out her free arm and beckoned Zoey and Rory to join their hug.

  After a while, Killian became very aware of Headmistress Jones’ presence. He pulled away from his family. “Thank you for letting them onto campus.”

  She smiled. “Of course. Our students’ families are always welcome. I’ve given them day passes, but I’ll also give you a gate pass if you’d like to leave campus with them.”

  “Thank you.”

  His mom wrapped an arm around his waist. Her head only reached his shoulder. “Your sisters and I are famished. We’ve been traveling since the wee hours of the morning. Let’s go to lunch.”

  “There’s a great diner in Twin Rivers that’s open for the holiday,” Mrs. Jones suggested.

  “Perfect.” His mom smiled one of her genuine smiles. “And invite that roommate of yours. Mrs. Jones tells me he’s stuck on campus for Christmas too. No one should be without family today, so tell him he can be an honorary James for the day if that’s okay with Mrs. Jones.”

  “Of course, I’ll get a day pass ready for Diego too. Lord knows that kid needs some time away from his computer.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Jones.” Relief flooded through him over a worry he hadn’t realized he had. He wanted Diego with him.

  “I don’t know where he is, though.” He shook his head. “Haven’t seen him all day.”

  “Oh, he was in your dorm room when we went looking for you.” Zoey slid her hand into his. “Come on. Let’s break you out into the real world.”

  18

  Diego

  “Stop your incessant clacking on that computer.” Killian barged through the door with a six-year-old Rory in his arms. “You’re not working on Christmas Eve. Not when my family showed up to surprise me. We’re going to lunch.”

  “Me too?” Diego blinked up at him in surprise. He’d planned to spend the day working since he didn’t really have anything else to do.

  “There’s no way I’m leaving you alone on Christmas Eve, even when I know you’re as happy as a clam behind that computer screen. Mrs. Jones gave us both passes to leave campus with my mom, now, come on, I’m starving.”

  “Is this Rory?” Diego stood hesitantly. He didn’t want to crash Killian’s family time, but he was dying to meet the people who could put such a genuine smile on Killian’s face.

  “In the flesh.” Killian tickled her, eliciting a fit of giggles from the little blonde girl.

  “You’re my brother’s roommate?” Rory asked.

  “And you’re his little sister? Diego countered. “What’s it like being the youngest?”

  “Fun.” Rory shrugged.

  “This one’s spoiled.” Killian grinned, tickling her again. “Spoiled rotten.” He tossed her over his shoulder as Diego grabbed his coat and laced up his boots.

  “Diego, why’s your room so small?” Rory asked, hanging upside down.

  “We don’t get bigger rooms till next year,” Diego responded. “What’s Killian like at home?”

  “Bossy.” Rory climbed up on Killian’s shoulders. “What’s he like at school?”

  “Bossy.” Diego followed them down the hallway, anxious to meet Zoe and Killian’s mom.

  “Enough with the questions, both of you.” Killian set Rory back on her own feet. “We’ll be here all day waiting for you two to run out of things to ask, and Diego’s probably starving. He forgets to eat.”

  “How do you forget to eat?” She took Killian’s hand and surprised Diego when she slipped her free hand into his.

  “I get focused on work stuff, and sometimes, your brother has to remind me when it’s dinnertime.”

  “What do you work on? Homework?” She tugged on their hands, leading them down the freshly cleared sidewalk.

  Diego launched into his talk of coding and app development.

  Rory paused and looked up at her brother. “What’s he talking about?”

  Killian crouched down beside her. “You know those games you like to play on mom’s phone?”

  “Yeah, when she lets me play them.”

  “Diego’s making a game like that. Soon, everyone will have it on their phones, and you can say you know him.”

  “Cool. Why didn’t he just say that?”

  “Diego’s super smart.” Killian dropped her hand and draped his arm around Diego. “And super cute too,” he added under his breath with a wink.

  Diego glanced at Killian, confused by his tone.

  “Diego, it’s lovely to meet you.” Killian’s mom greeted them at the curb where she waited with an Uber. “We’ve heard so much about you.”

 
Diego went to shake her hand, but she enveloped him into a motherly hug, soft and warm. It made him miss his own mother in a way he hadn’t in a long time.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. James.”

  “Please call me Maggie.” She squeezed him tight. “Come on, munchkin, let’s get you in the back seat.” She ushered Rory into the van.

  “Zoe, this is my roommate, Diego.” Killian introduced him to his thirteen-year-old sister. He’d never said it, but Diego knew this was Killian’s best friend in the entire world and he wanted her to like him.

  “Hi, Zoe.” Diego wasn’t sure what to say to the suddenly shy girl. He leaned down to her level. “You know he misses you like crazy, right?” He smiled in relief when she seemed to relax.

  “He better. If he knows what’s good for him.”

  Killian held the door open for her, and she climbed into the back seat with her mother and sister, leaving Killian and Diego the two seats behind the driver.

  “Where to?” the driver asked.

  “The Main Street Diner in Twin Rivers,” Killian said. “Mrs. Jones said they’ll be open late tonight.

  “I’ve seen the few pictures you’ve thought to send, but, Killian, your school is just beautiful.” Maggie gazed out the window as they made their way toward the gates.

  “We’ll give you the grand tour later. Diego knows all the best spots.”

  They were quickly seated at the diner. It wasn’t packed, but there were lots more people there than Diego expected. And the place looked like Santa’s workshop.

  “It’s like Christmas threw up in here.” Killian cast a gaze around the diner. Fake snow covered every surface, and an enormous tree filled one end of the diner where an electric fireplace blazed and stockings galore hung from the mantle. They’d even set up a living room with couches and armchairs.

  The diner smelled like Christmas cookies and hot chocolate. Diego’s stomach growled. Killian was right, he’d forgotten to eat breakfast this morning and he was starving now.

  “Merry Christmas and welcome to the Main.” Peyton’s bright smile greeted them. She was dressed like an elf with a hideous Christmas sweater and a pointed hat with a bell on the tip.