I fall back in my seat with a huff.
“So all bets are off?” he asks. “You’ve told them you’re done?”
My shoulders rise and fall.
“What’s that mean?” he asks.
“It means I have, but I haven’t. I mean, I pretty much told Chase, but I haven’t told Maggie yet. I have to call her, but I’m procrastinating.”
Tabitha comes to take my order. Gavin declines anything but takes the opportunity to flirt with the older lady. She blushes but razzes him right back. Their interaction is so wholesome and adorable that it dilutes my irritation—just a little bit.
Once she’s gone, Gavin settles his sights on me again.
“What did you do today?” I ask, needing a reprieve from talking about the Chase issue. “Anything fun?”
“If you call building a fence with my brother fun, then yeah. Also did a little fishing that ended with a hook in my palm because my brother is an asshole.” He holds his hand in the air. A Band-Aid stretches just below his thumb. “That hurt like the dickens.”
“Did you have it looked at? Did it need stitches?”
“Dad closed it with some skin glue stuff. I don’t know. He was in the Army, so he can piece you back together as long as you don’t lose too much blood.”
I wrinkle my nose, making him laugh.
Tabitha sets my drink in front of us and pauses to talk with Gavin again. I watch their interaction. It’s clear why I like himso much. His effortless way about him makes everyone feel comfortable in his presence.
Unlike Chase freaking Marshall.
I swirl my straw around my lemonade and think about my options.
I can go back to Dallas and find a place to rent.God knows I love my mom, but I can’t live with her for long. But where will I work? What will I do for a living? I have no idea. Despite Dallas being my hometown and my mom living there, it no longer feels like home. Being away for over a decade will do that to you. It’s not that I’ve outgrown it or think I need the glitz and glamour of LA or New York. I just don’t fit in Texas. I don’t think I ever really did.
My other option is to keep looking for work in LA or New York, but the idea of moving back to the city doesn’t excite me. Of course, if I must do it to work, I will, but I genuinely feel like that part of my life has passed. The trouble is, I don’t know what part of my life I’m in now.
“What’s that all about?” Gavin asks.
I pull my attention away from my thoughts and to my friend. “What’s what all about?”
“That shrug.”
Did I shrug? “Nothing. I was thinking about what I want out of life.”
“And that is …?”
I don’t even know for sure.“I’d take a cabin in the woods and a million dollars.”
“Come to think of it, I’d take that too.”
Tabitha delivers my grilled cheese with a friendly smile. I decline anything else, and she scurries back toward the kitchen.
“What are you going to do?” Gavin asks, folding his hands in front of him. “Are you gonna call Maggie?”
“I don’t have another choice. What will I do—move in tomorrow when Chase doesn’t want my help?” I fiddle with the edge of my sandwich. “Besides, I have no interest in staying in Peachwood Falls anymore. I was only helping my mom. I mean, Maggie would pay me well, which helped my current state of unemployment, but I don’tneedthis job. And I sure as hell don’t need this headache.”
He sits up and rests his elbows on the table. “Maybe you should give this guy another shot.”
“What?”
“You know, maybe he was having a bad day.”
