She turns on her side, smiling at me. ‘I was planning to. I didn’t think you’d just kick me out.’
‘What about tomorrow? It’s Sunday. We could spend the day together.’
‘I can’t. I need to get back. I have a lot to get done before classes start.’
‘What about next weekend? I could drive to Madison. You could show me around, give me a tour of campus.’
‘I work at the student counseling center on the weekends.’
‘So when can I see you?’
‘I don’t know,’ she says, sounding disappointed and maybe a little sad.
‘Mia, I want to see you again. I don’t want tonight to be it.’
‘Can we talk about this tomorrow?’ She moves closer and wraps her arm around me, resting her head on my chest. ‘I don’t want anything to take away how I’m feeling right now.’
‘Yeah.’ I kiss her forehead. ‘We’ll talk tomorrow.’
But I’m worried I won’t like what she’s going to tell me. I thought she’d want to continue this, but maybe she doesn’t. Maybe tonight is it.
* * *
‘When can I see you again?’ I ask Mia the next morning as she’s getting dressed.
We’re heading home soon and I’m not ready to say goodbye. We had such a great night, and a great morning. We were up at five—talking, kissing, making love. Then I held her in my arms, not wanting to let her go.
‘Jason, we talked about this,’ Mia says, slipping on her shoes. ‘I have school. You have work. We live in different places.’ She turns her back to me. ‘Would you zip me up, please?’
I come up behind her and zip her dress, then wrap her inmy arms and lean down to kiss her neck, then her cheek. ‘I know what we said, but I’m changing my mind. I want to keep seeing you.’
‘How?’ She turns to me. ‘My job at the counseling center takes up whatever time I have left after studying and going to class. And soon you’ll be coaching baseball in addition to your teaching job. When would we have time to see each other?’
I sigh. ‘I don’t know. I just don’t want this to be goodbye.’
‘I don’t either. But I’m moving back to Boston after I graduate. Why would we start something that’s going to end in a few months?’
‘You don’t have to go back to Boston. You could stay here. You already live here. Why go back?’
She pauses a moment. ‘My parents. They’re in their seventies. My dad’s almost 80. I don’t know how much time I have left with them. If I lived here, I’d only see them a few times a year. That’s not enough. I’m their only child and I need to be close to them, in case anything happens. In case they get sick.’
She didn’t tell me that last night. I didn’t know her parents were that old. They’re even older than mine. And she’s an only child. Now it makes sense why she wants to move back. Her family’s important to her and she wants to take care of them. It’s another thing we have in common.
‘Is there any chance you’d consider moving?’ she asks. ‘Assuming we got to that point.’
I shake my head. ‘My parents are getting up in age too. They’re still in their sixties, but my dad had a heart attack last summer, which made me realize he may not be around much longer. And my whole life’s in Haydon Falls. My parents, mybrothers, my job, the baseball camp I started. I don’t want to leave all that, especially my family.’
She softly smiles. ‘I understand.’ She gazes into my eyes. ‘So I guess this is it.’
‘I guess so.’ I cup my hands around her face and lean down to kiss her. ‘I’ll never forget this night. Or you.’
She slowly backs away. ‘I’ll never forget you either.’
She gathers up her things from the nightstand, then walks quickly to the door.
‘Mia, wait!’ I race up to her. ‘You didn’t say goodbye.’
She looks at me, then reaches up to kiss my cheek. ‘Goodbye, Jason.’
