Love, Utley (Love Letters #1)

“So…” I slow to a stop as the light ahead of me turns red. “Would you mind if Maddox came with us to the game tomorrow?”

Chelsea is typing out a text to one of her friends. “Don’t care.”

I watch her for a moment, trying to see if she’s hiding a reaction from me. “Are you sure?”

Chelsea nods. “Yeah.”

The light turns green, and I lift my foot off the brake.

Maybe she didn’t hear me. “Maddox, the guy who came over during Grandma’s birthday.”

“Uh, duh. I know who Maddox is. He’s kinda hard to miss.”

Fair.

“And you’re okay if he comes to the baseball game?” I glance over and find Chelsea looking at me.

“Still a yes.” Her sass shouldn’t warm my heart, but it does.

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

Chelsea sets her phone in her lap. “Are you two dating?”

“Well… technically… I don’t know.”

The tween next to me snickers. “Are you really trying to pull an it’s complicated on me?”

I blow out a breath as I stop at another red light. “I’m not trying to pull anything. But”— I hold up a hand— “in my defense, it’s true.”

“Why is it complicated? Because you used to date?”

Internally, I kick myself. I should have just accepted her first yes and left it at that.

“We…” I trail off.

I can’t tell my twelve-year-old that my past with Maddox was more of a one-night stand than an actual relationship.

“You know.” She starts up again. “The more you evade answering my questions, the more I’m going to ask.”

I send Chelsea a look before I start driving again. “I think you watch too many crime dramas.”

She shrugs. “Maybe.”

Sighing, I take the next turn onto the street with our preferred nail salon. “Maddox and I met in college.”

“I thought you did online school?”

I nod. “I did for the last two years to get my accounting degree. But I went to HOP University for one week at the beginning of my junior year, and that’s when I met Maddox.”

“Just one week?” Chelsea turns in her seat, and I know I have her full attention now.

“Yeah. I was one week in when Grandma had her stroke.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slump. “So you had to move back home, and you couldn’t keep dating.”

“Basically.” It’s a massive oversimplification of the story, but yeah.

“Well, that sucks.”