Teaching Roman Read Free

out of Olympic Falls.”
    “That’s an excellent idea! You can come to California.” Jillian did an amazing job of making this sound like a tempting offer, but both Cassie and I knew that she was dreading returning home for the holidays, even with her Scottish hottie at her side.
    “I don’t think I could put up with Tara’s bullshit right now,” Cassie said.
    “Fair enough. Then where are you going?” Jillian asked as she plopped onto the barstool next to me.
    “Mexico.”
    “Nowhere.”
    We both answered at the same time.
    “We aren’t going to Mexico!” I didn’t want to burst Cassie’s bubble, but there was no way that I could afford Mexico nor did I really feel like traveling. All I wanted was to stay here in an empty apartment and have some time to myself.
    “I’m leaving,” Jillian said. “You could stay in my room.”
    I made a mental note to tell Jillian to discuss it with me before she volunteered our apartment as a hotel. But even I knew deep down that I would have offered Cassie the same thing.
    “And listen to Brett and Jess make sweet love all break? I don’t think so.”
    “Brett’s going home for break,” I reminded them.
    Jillian’s eyes narrowed as she studied my face. “You don’t sound all that broken up about it.”
    I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to admit that right now. The last thing I needed to do was rub Brett's proposal in Cassie's face. “He’s seeing his family. That’s a healthy thing for him.”
    “And he’s not taking you?” Cassie asked. “Trevor never introduced me to his family. I should have known that was something was—”
    “I don’t want to go to Indiana with him,” I cut her off. “This semester was difficult, and I’m not caught up on any of my shows.”
    “Your shows?” Jillian repeated with laughing eyes. “Are you a sixty year-old woman? Gonna do some Sudoku and start adopting cats?”
    I swatted her with my free hand. “Don’t be a bitch.”
    “Don’t be a sixty year-old woman!” Jillian laughed and bounded back into her room to finish packing.
    My phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out in time to see a text message from Brett flash across the screen.
    BRETT: Change of plans. I’m staying with you over break. I can’t go home until we’ve talked.
    I shoved my phone back in my pocket and tried to look normal.
    “Are you okay?” Cassie asked, eying me with suspicion.
    “I’m fine,” I said, trying to sound like I was telling the truth. The fact was that I was far from okay. “I just decided to go to Mexico with you.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    M y sister accompanied me to the security check point at SeaTac, rattling off a list of items I needed to be sure I had with me. My passport, the number to the US embassy, photocopies of all identification, sunscreen—I had my passport and sunscreen.
    “I’m fine,” I assured her, pausing near the entry to the queue.
    “Don’t drink the water. Don’t talk to strange men.” Lillian grabbed my shoulders and looked fiercely into my eyes. “And don’t get pregnant.”
    She followed it up with a hug, which was pretty awkward given that she’s half a foot taller than me—and because I was caught somewhere between hysterical laughter and total shock. Lillian didn’t talk about sex. She was a twenty-eight year-old attorney who slept, ate, and drank at the office. As far as I knew, she’d never had sex before. She didn’t have the time. Not that I was much better. Our mom had conditioned us to be married to our work. It was the price of being raised by a single parent who prized independence over relationships. At least, when we were little. I’d asked Lillian to bring me to the airport because I’d bailed on our tentative Christmas plans to go to Mexico and because Jillian and Liam were driving my car to California. I should have known that I’d be in for a lecture at the terminal.
    “‘Kay, Lil,” I promised with a straight face, but I was pretty sure the only reason I wound up