Owen had never had two pennies to rub together, but he’d had so much . . . more.
I took a deep breath. “There was nothing I could do about it, so I didn’t talk about my home life, and there wasn’t much I could do about my college situation, either,” I said defensively. “I was hopeful about getting the Manheim to help get me through a bachelor’s program since I did a lot of volunteer work for the animal shelter and a couple of other animal-welfare organizations.”
Actually, it had been the director of the shelter who’d made me believe I could become the recipient of the Manheim. She’d known one of the committee members for the scholarship, and she’d shared that I was at the top of the list when I’d first applied.
My dreams of going directly into a bachelor’s and then to vet school had been flying high.
Which had made the crash-and-burn part pretty damn painful when I’d found out that all of the required recommendations hadn’t been received before the deadline.
“You never told me about your financial worries about the future,” he commented.
I snorted. “You never told me much about yours, either.”
“I was a hell of a lot more open than you were,” he contradicted as he nodded to the phone I’d pulled from my bag. “Call her.”
Did I really owe it to Owen to get a confirmation from Bea that she’d sent my recommendation for the scholarship? It wasn’t like all the evidence didn’t point toward him.
If I don’t owe it to him, maybe I owe it to myself.
I’d never even considered the possibility that it could have been Bea who didn’t send in the required letter.
Everything had pointed toward Owen, and I’d been blinded by the pain of his perceived betrayal.
I need to just do it. Even though I know it was Owen, I’m a grown-up now. I have to rule out every possibility.
Now that I was discussing all of this with Owen face-to-face, maybe there was a small, niggling doubt in the back of my mind.
Yes, it still made sense that he’d been the one to crush my adolescent dreams.
But it was really difficult to completely ignore the devastated expression on his face.
I turned my back on Owen, found Bea’s number in my phone, and waited for her to pick up.
CHAPTER 5
OWEN
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Owen.” Layla dropped her phone on the counter and plopped onto one of the stools at the island.
I was so pissed off at her that I didn’t want to feel any empathy as I watched the crushed, completely remorseful expression on Layla’s face, but damned if I didn’t want to comfort her. Even after she’d accused me of being a liar.
I hadn’t heard the whole five-minute call she’d had with Bea, but what I did hear had been enough for me to know that Layla’s former friend had confessed to not sending in her recommendation.
Layla shook her head as she related the truth. “She was sick, and her grandmother passed away, and she forgot. Bea swears she felt so guilty that she couldn’t tell me. I don’t know what else to say. All these years, I was so sure you did it, but it never was you. I’m so sorry, Owen. I should have never jumped to conclusions like that. Everything just seemed to fall into place for me once I found out you’d gotten the scholarship.”
I had to give Layla credit: the woman owned up to her mistakes. Not that it was any excuse for her calling me a liar, but I had probably contributed to her conclusions by avoiding her before I’d won that damn scholarship. “Do you want to know why I backed off our relationship near the end of senior year?” I asked. My voice was colder than I’d meant it to be, since I was still stinging from her accusations.
My gut ached as she looked at me earnestly with tear-filled eyes and then nodded hesitantly.
Those beautiful baby blues had always done something to me, and I didn’t like seeing them this damn solemn.
“Somewhere in the middle of our senior year, I stopped seeing you as just my friend. I developed a massive crush on you, Layla, and every damn time I saw you, my teenage-boy hormones took control.” I stopped, cleared my throat, and then continued. “I pretty much wanted to nail you every moment of every day. It got . . . uncomfortable. I thought about asking you out on a real date, but I thought that would just make things worse since I had no idea how to date, and let’s face it, I was a dork in high school, and you were beautiful. What chance did a guy like me have with a girl like you? Besides, I was leaving for college in Boston, and you were planning on staying in California for school. Looking back, I should have just talked to you about how I felt, but I was too embarrassed to bring up the topic. So I just backed off.”
“D-did you think I’d say no if you did ask me out?” she stammered with a stunned look on her gorgeous face.
“Of course I did. I was a nerd, and you, well, you were you.”
She shook her head, the amazed expression still on her face. “I was never one of the really popular girls like Bea.”
“Didn’t matter,” I informed her. “In fact, I kind of admired the fact that you could float around to different crowds but never made a firm commitment to being one of any of them. You could kick ass in a math competition, and then go do some sexy pom-pom routine with the marching band. I’m not sure which one of those made my dick harder, but there was nothing I didn’t like about you, Layla.”
Her tears started to flow faster, and she sounded choked up as she answered, “I cared about you, too, Owen, and I’m sorry I messed everything up. I want to make it up to you, but I don’t know how. I don’t know what I would have said if you’d asked me out, because I didn’t really date, either. I didn’t even kiss a guy until after high school. Maybe I did have friends in every crowd, but you and Andie were always my best friends. I could be myself when I was with you.”
The anger I’d felt earlier began to melt away. Layla looked so destroyed that I couldn’t beat her up over making a mistake. Hell, we’d been kids back then, stupid teenagers who did and thought ridiculous things.
Sure, it had wounded me that Layla had thought I was capable of being devious enough to make sure she didn’t get a scholarship she’d needed, but really, neither one of us had been thinking like an adult. “So you didn’t go to be a vet because you didn’t get the Manheim?”
I hated the fact that I’d achieved my dream but Layla hadn’t.
She brushed another tear from her cheek. “There was really no guarantee that I was going to get that scholarship anyway,” she said. “I had a backup plan to go to nursing school, and I’m not sorry for the way everything worked out. I love what I do at the clinic, Owen, and I think I like spoiling the animals at the shelter more than I’d enjoy operating on them. Now that I’m older and wiser, I think fate pushed me in the right direction, even though I didn’t think so at the time. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“Are you still volunteering at the shelter?”
She nodded. “As much as I possibly can.”
It was believable that Layla was happy doing women’s health at the clinic. I’d seen her in action. Her patients adored her, and she happily gave a lot of herself to the people under her care. “I’m glad you’re happy, Layla. I’ve thought about you a lot over the years.”