Free A Season for Hope (Sarra Cannon) by Sarra Cannon Page B

head to the side and cut my eyes toward him. “You’re too distracting,” I say. “We won’t get anything done.”
    He laughs. “I swear,” he says. “We’ll just study and I promise not to distract you too much. Unless we’re taking a break.”
    I think about it for a second. It’s definitely tempting. I want to spend more time with him before Christmas break. I don’t even know if he’s going home for the break or sticking around, but I don’t want to miss out on seeing him just so I can study.
    “Okay,” I say. “We’ll try it for one night and see how it goes.”
    “Tomorrow night?”
    “I get off work at four,” I say.
    “Perfect,” he says. “I’ll come by the cafe and pick you up. We can head back to my place if you want.”
    “I want,” I say.
    Judd pulls me into another kiss, and for the first time since Preston and I broke up, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
    Chapter Thirteen
     
    I’m practically floating when I walk into my apartment late that evening.
    Monica is lying on the couch in her pj’s watching TV and eating popcorn. She has all the lights off except the strings of Christmas lights we’ve tacked to the walls.
    She eyes me curiously. “What in the world happened to you?” she asks. She grabs the remote and mutes the television. “You look like the cat who ate the canary.”
    I cannot control the huge smile that spreads across my face. I lean against the front door and sigh. “Nothing. Just the most magical, surprising night of my life.”
    Her eyes nearly pop out of her head. She clears a spot for me beside her on the couch and pats her hand on the cushions. “Spill it,” she demands.
    I move to sit beside her and am not surprised to see she’s watching old episodes of Firefly. Again. She’s obsessed with that show.
    “Judd came in to The Cup today,” I say.
    She bounces beside me and when I look over, her lips are pressed together so tight, they’re turning white.
    “At first, it was a complete disaster,” I say. “I spilled coffee all over myself and had to change into the boss’s oversized t-shirt. I kept tripping over chairs and knocking things over every time I saw him glance my way. I thought for sure this guy must think I’m a lunatic. I expected him to leave any second and never come back.”
    Monica turns her body all the way toward me. She’s shoving popcorn in her mouth like I’m the best entertainment she’s had in weeks. “And?”
    “And he never left,” I say. I know I’m blushing because my entire face is red hot. I can’t stop smiling. “He stayed until we were the only two left in the cafe, and when we finally started talking, he asked me out.”
    “Ahhh!” Monica nearly spills her popcorn as she throws her arms around my neck. “This is awesome. When are you guys going out?”
    “We already did. Sort of,” I say. I tell her all about our hotdogs and our walk to the pier. I leave out the bit about his brother, because he seemed kind of protective about that information, but I tell her everything else.
    “I knew something like this would happen,” she says. “You just needed to get out of the house and put yourself back on the market.”
    “I’m not a house,” I say. “It’s not like I was looking for someone new.”
    “That’s what they say, though, isn’t it? Love comes along when you least expect it.”
    I roll my eyes. “This isn’t love, Mon. We just met.”
    Still, there’s a tingle that goes through me from head to toe just thinking about Judd and the possibility of a future with someone new. It might not be love, but it’s definitely like.
    “That’s how it starts for everyone, though,” she says. “When are you going to see him again? Did you guys talk about it?”
    “Tomorrow,” I say, smiling again. “We’re going to have a study date.”
    She laughs. “Right. A study date.”
    I push her with my elbow. “We’re really going to study,” I say in my own defense. “If I fail my exams, I’m