“So sexy,” she murmured, laughing at herself as she left the room.

She went into the lobby and saw all the guys were back. Aidan was high-fiving everyone. When he saw her, he rushed over, grabbed her and spun her in a circle.

“Hey, Ms. F. You should have come with us. The campus is close to the beach and the girls are beautiful.” He released her and grinned. “Man, I so need to go here. I know it’s a UC school, but my academics are good and they have my major and maybe I can run track or something.”

His enthusiasm made her laugh. “Good for you, Aidan. Now let’s see if you still feel that way after you see the next campus.”

The rangy teen shook his head. “I’m a Triton all the way.”

“They’d be lucky to have you,” she told him, secretly suspecting Aidan was going to be just as interested in every college they visited. He just seemed like the type.

She made her way to Cooper. “How was it?”

Her son shrugged. “Good. It’s a nice campus, but not for me.” He glanced at his friend and grinned. “Aidan’s stoked.”

“I heard. So you’re still waiting for Stanford and UCLA?”

“Uh-huh.”

They would head out midmorning to arrive in Westwood in time for lunch. Cooper and Luka had afternoon meetings with the athletic department. The following morning, everyone would go on a tour of the UCLA campus, then Coop was meeting his dad for lunch while the rest of the group hung out on the beach.

When she’d first told him about his dad, he’d been super excited, but in the last day or so, he hadn’t mentioned the lunch. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to spare her feelings, or if he was nervous.

“Are you excited to see UCLA?” she asked, searching for some level of enthusiasm. Something that would show the plan was working.

“I guess.”

She held in a sigh. Not exactly what she’d been hoping for. “From what I’ve heard, it’s huge. Nearly a hundred thousand people go through it each day. That’s three times as many people as live in Willowbrook.”

He smiled at her. “You’ve been doing research.”

“I like to stay up on things. Don’t forget, after the morning tour, you’re meeting your dad.”

Emotions she couldn’t read raced through his eyes. He glanced away. “It’s no big deal.”

She wished she knew what he was thinking. “Coop, it is. Are you nervous?”

He shrugged. “Some. Maybe. He’s just a guy.”

She pulled him over to one of the sofas in the large, open lobby. When they were seated, she said, “Coop, this is a big deal. You need to be prepared for a lot of emotions that don’t make sense. You have ideas in your head about who your father is and they may not be close to the truth.”

“You’re saying I won’t like him?”