I wasn’t about to ask how many strings he was fixin’ to pull to get me into the University of Texas for the spring semester. I had been offered a football scholarship there, but I’d turned it down to go to A&M. Now, I was wishing more than anything that I had accepted it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the porch, making plans for Emma and me to go to school together. Dr. Birk had walked inside to use the phone at least a dozen times. The last time he walked out onto the porch, he had a smile on his face as big as the Grand Canyon.

He cleared his throat and looked down at my mother and David before turning to me. “Garrett, I hope you’ve kept in shape, son. Starting this coming season, it looks like you’ll be playing football for the University of Texas.”

Emma and my mother stood up and began jumping up and down as David stood up and shook Dr. Birk’s hand. I just sat there, stunned.

What in the hell just happened?

This morning, I was a cattle rancher, and now, I’m walking on the UT football team and getting my business management degree.

I shook my head and started to laugh. I looked up and silently thanked my father for continuing to look after me.

August 1958

I stood outside Moore-Hill Hall, waiting for Garrett to come out. He had been so busy all summer with taking classes to get caught up that we had hardly spent any time together. With all the football practices he’d had, we’d barely had time to say hi, but Garrett had made sure that we snuck in time to be alone together. I thought I would go insane if Garrett didn’t make love to me at least once a week.

I smiled as I thought back to last night. He hadn’t had a condom with him, so he’d refused to do anything. Ever since our first time together when he’d forgotten to use one, he had made sure to always have plenty of condoms with him, so he had been beyond frustrated that he had forgot one last night.

I closed my eyes and thought of how I’d finally gotten the nerve to take him into my mouth. Margie had been going on and on about how much she always loved giving Billy blow jobs. Garrett had seemed to like it, but honestly, I could never do it again and be happy.

“Hey, Emma. Did you run over here or something? Your face is flush.”

I looked up to see Rick Manly standing there. I placed my hands over my cheeks and smiled as I shook my head. “No, it must be the heat.”

Then, my whole body came to life as I felt arms around me.

Garrett turned me around and searched my face. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “What are you thinking about, you naughty girl?”

I let out a giggle and whispered, “Last night.”

“Which part? My lips on you or your lips on me?”

I hit him on the chest, and he started laughing.

“Hey, Rick. How’s it going?” Garrett asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him.

“Good. With the look on your lovely girlfriend’s face, I’d say things between you two seem to be heating up more and more.”

Garrett laughed. “My goal is to keep her happy. We have to run though. We have a long drive ahead of us.”

Rick and Garrett shook hands, and then Garrett and I turned and made our way to his truck.

We were heading back to Mason for the weekend to attend his mother and David’s wedding. Garrett had been stressing out over the speech he had to give. The whole way to Mason, he kept practicing it over and over while moving around like he just couldn’t sit still. At one point, I even offered to drive.

“Garrett, stop stressing. It sounds lovely. Why are you so nervous?” I asked.

He pushed his hand through his wavy brown hair. I slowly took in a deep breath. I wasn’t sure why, but whenever he did that, it would turn me on. The pit of my stomach began to tighten. I was wishing we were already married, so we could just stay together this weekend and make love as much as we wanted to without having to sneak around to do it. I placed my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes as I thought about this past month.

My parents had been in Europe the whole month, celebrating their anniversary, so Garrett and I had been going to my parent’s house every chance we got. The things he would do to me—

Oh Lord.

I snapped my head forward and shook my head. I needed to stop thinking about it, or I would be forced to put my hand down my knickers. I glanced over at Garrett, and he was tapping the steering wheel. When I reached over and placed my hand on his arm, he jumped.

“Gosh, Garrett, what in the world is wrong? You’re a nervous wreck.”

Garrett smiled. “I’m just thinking about my mom getting married again. It’s going to be weird. I mean, I’ve always thought of David as a second father, but at the same time, it will be weird to see my mother with a man besides…” His voice trailed off.

My heart broke.

He yawned and shook his head, like he was trying to wake himself up.

“Do you want me to drive? You look so tired,” I said as I ran my fingers through his hair.

He let out a small moan, and I instantly wanted him inside me. I quickly glanced down between us.

The quilt.

I looked to see where we were, and I let out a giggle. Mr. Martin’s old place wasn’t too far down the road. I peeked over and saw Garrett yawning again.

“I know a place where we can pull off, and you can rest for a bit,” I said as I adjusted myself in the seat to ease the throbbing.

Garrett let out a laugh. “Buttercup, we’re almost into Mason. We only have about thirty minutes to go.”

“I need to stop. I have to go pee.” I slid my hand down next to me and crossed my fingers.

“Where are you going to go, Em? On the side of the road?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nope. I know of an old farmhouse that has been abandoned. My father used to go and check on the older man because he lived alone. It’s been empty for about five years now. My friends and I used to go and hang out there.”

I saw the corners of Garrett’s lips lift. He was smiling, and that made me smile.

I looked back out the window and said, “It’s just up the road about another mile or so if you want to pull in. It will be on the right.”

“You naughty little girl. Em, we’ll be trespassing on private property,” Garrett said with a chuckle.

I pulled my legs up underneath me. “Oh, come on, Garrett. Let’s do something naughty.”

He quickly looked at me and then back out onto the road. “We’ve been doing something naughty for the last eight months.”