chapter949

It was nine in the evening when Connor drove Lydia home to the Norwood place. As she reached for the door, he caught her hand and pulled her back, holding on like he never wanted to let go.

"Your break starts tomorrow," he said, looking at her with a hopeful grin. "Where do you want to go? I'll take you anywhere."

Lydia was always busy. Now that she finally had a real holiday, Connor just wanted her to forget everything and have some fun, maybe relax for once.

But Lydia shook her head. "I'm busy. I don't have time."

For her, time off hardly made a difference. No matter the day, there was always a never-ending list of things waiting for her.

Connor looked disappointed. "Not even just one day? Tomorrow?"

She cleared her throat. "Tomorrow really isn't possible."

He didn't give up. "What about the day after?"

Lydia looked at him, this man desperately craving her attention, and finally nodded. "Okay. The day after tomorrow."

She was about to step out, but Connor pulled her into his arms again and kissed her deeply.

Up front, Aiden gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead, pretending to be invisible. This was awkward. Was there time to raise the privacy screen? Connor really could have given him a heads-up.

The kiss ended. Lydia pushed Connor away and hopped out of the car.

"Get lost!"

He never knew when to stop. One kiss was never enough for him.

Connor watched her run off, a crooked smile playing on his lips. So she did have moments when she got flustered.

The second Lydia walked through the front door, she felt everyone's eyes on her. "Lydia!"

Kylie practically jumped out of her seat, hurrying over.

"You were incredible today. Everyone's been talking about you, asking whose daughter you are. Your dad and I almost couldn't help ourselves, we wanted to shout that you're our precious girl."

Cameron joined, a mix of pride and worry in his eyes. "Lydia, so you were at the border last week... We're all so proud of you."

He never expected his daughter, ?o young, to have accomplished so much already As her father he felt proud, guilty, and more than a concerned. She must have worked so hard to get here.

Lucinda had taken first place in the math department that day, but everyone knew her award wasn't really deserved. Still besides Lydia she had done better than any of the other freshmen. But even though she was the one with the first prize, all the attention and praise went to Lydia. It felt like a slap in the face.

And Leila was just useless. She was supposed to challenge Lydia to a violin duel, but Lydia had ignored her completely and almost drove a wedge between them.

"Hey, Lydia? What did your boyfriend get you? Looks mysterious," Lucinda asked, her gaze landing on the small gift box in Lydia's hand. It definitely looked like jewelry.

She smirked to herself. So that's all Connor could manage. By the looks of it, just a single piece.

Kylie peeked at the box too, curiosity all over her face. "Lydia, did Connor give you that?"

Lydia handed the box over to Kylie. "It's from his mother."

"What?"

Kylie, Cameron, and Lucinda all blurted it out at the same time.

Everyone knew that after Connor's dad passed away, his mom was heartbroken. She almost didn't make it through. Eventually, her doctors suggested she move abroad to start over. Since then, she'd barely come back, Even when she was overseas, she kept to herself. Every year* Connor and his brothers would fly out to visit her.

Even Lucinda had never gotten a gift from Connor's mom. She hadn't even met her.

But now, Lydia had gotten something?

Lucinda couldn't believe it. Her voice shot up. "She came back?"