“Clo?”
“Hm? What?” I said, blinking out of my thoughts.
He smiled. “I asked if you felt better about everything,” he said, coming around to sit on the stool beside me. “My mother says she’s talked to you about some details.”
“Yeah, we straightened a few things out,” I said. “I’m never going to not be nervous, Tyler. It’s three weeks.”
Or one day.
I stood then, finished with my coffee, and honestly trying to find any excuse not to be near him. “Gavin is coming over to help me tie up a few loose ends on the project this afternoon,” I told Tyler as I rinsed out my mug.
He sipped his coffee, elbows resting on the countertop. “Gavin, as in Arrow’s CEO?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“He’s coming here?”
“Yeah. I’m working from home today and tomorrow,” I replied. “The office is a distraction. Too many other things are going on there, and I need to focus on finishing this.” I turned and leaned my hips against the counter, wiping the water out of my mug.
Tyler observed me, wariness in his eyes. “You usually don’t bring clients here,” he said. “Why is this different?”
“Gavin is a friend,” I said with a shrug. “He’s been very involved in this whole process. Why?”
“It’s a little weird,” Tyler said.
“Why?”
“Because he’s the CEO of a major company—your biggest client—and you’re bringing him into my home,” Tyler said, a twinge of jealousy in his tone.
“How do you know I don’t do this regularly?” I asked. “You’re never here,” I practically snapped.
Tyler noticed it. He was quiet for a few seconds, taking a long drink of his coffee as we stared at each other.
“You know that’ll change in a few months,” he said softly.
A boulder sat in the pit of my stomach. My hands clenched and unclenched on the edge of the countertop as an agitated itch worked its way through my bones.
“I’ve already found us a house,” he said. “It’s an hour from my parents on the coast.”
“I don’t know if I want that,” I finally said.
Silence dwelled between us again.
“What are you talking about?” he asked after a beat.
My jaw tightened, and I hung my head. “I mean, I’m not ready for all of that. I’m not saying I never want it. I just… I don’t know what I want anymore.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I mean, I don’t fucking know, Tyler! Goddammit—“ I pushed off the counter and tugged at the roots of my hair, walking around in a circle. “Shit, this is a nightmare,” I muttered.
Tyler stood and rounded the island to come to my side. He took my arm in his hand, trying to pull me into him, but I wrenched away, and he looked at me with a tight-lipped expression.
“I thought you would work all this out while I was away. I thought you would be ready when I got back,” he said. “We’ve been planning this move since—“
“No,you’vebeen planning this,” I argued. “I didn’t know anything about this until a few weeks ago.”
“We’ve always talked about living near my parents,” he said.
