“I don’t need the money.”
“Rhett, I don’t care if you need the money or not. I can’t just move here and live in a little fantasy world. I need this to be real life.”
“Maybe you’ve missed the message during your time here, but people in small towns like Roots like to help each other out. It is real life in Roots to let you stay for free in a cottage I have no other use for.”
Crossing her arms, she mumbles, “Fine. But I still need a job.”
“What kind of work do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” After a beat she adds, “I know I don’t want to be in tax anymore. The insane deadlines just don’t work for me, and I hate that I have to put my life on hold for almost six months out of the year.”
“Okay, so we look for a job that gives you the freedom to still have your life outside of work. Anything else you want or don’t want?”
“I want to do something meaningful. I’ve never felt as passionate about anything as I feel about helping Carol with the rescue. Even if I’m not making any money from it, it’s very fulfilling. I want to continue to help her and also find that feeling in my next job.”
“We can work with that.”
My phone dings, and I pull it out to find a text from Callie, which I read out loud.
Callie
We’re okay. Tell her I’ll fill her in soon
* * *
Sitting on the back porch after dinner, we watch the sun set, lighting the horizon in oranges and pinks. Birds chirp cheerily in the trees, and Olivia sits next to me. I can’t think of any place I’d rather be.
I don’t want to break the peace of this moment, but I’m about to burst from holding in the story I need to tell Olivia. “I kind of had something I wanted to talk with you about too.”
“Should I be worried?”
A strangled laugh slips from my throat. I’m not sure how to answer that question. “I know I’ve kept a lot hidden from you?—”
“I’m sorry for digging so much, Rhett. I just want to get to know you and understand you, but I realized it hasn’t been fair for me to keep insisting that I’m going to leave Roots and then ask you to open up to me anyway.”
“I was actually thinking it’s time I tell you the real reason I came to Roots.”
ChapterForty
Rhett
She doesa terrible job of trying to hide the smile growing on her face, and it’s so damn cute that I nearly forget what we were talking about.
“I’m not sure where to start,” I say nervously.
“It’s your story. Start wherever you feel is right.”
I take a breath, planning on remaining calm and confident while I tell her, but as soon as I open my mouth, the words come tumbling out like an avalanche.
“As you already know, I went to college in New York. During my second semester of freshman year, I had one of my introductory business classes with this girl, Isabel. She was intelligent, funny, and absolutely radiant. I fell for her hard and fast, and somehow, I was incredibly lucky because she fell for me too. Despite all my reservations about love, she made me want to try. She made me believe that my parents, and everything in my past, had nothing to do with my future. By the end of the year, we made things official, and I just knew she was the girl I wanted to marry.”
Confusion swirls in Olivia’s eyes as I speak. I’m sure she is wondering why I’m telling her about how much I loved another woman. Maybe it’s unfair to share that with Olivia, but my love for Isabel made me who I am today, and I can’t tell my story without talking about Isabel.
“By the beginning of our senior year, we had planned out our whole lives together. I was going to move back to her hometown, Roots. We knew it’d be a great place for us to raise a family, and we knew we’d have a support system here. My relationship with my parents had never been all that great, but she had a great relationship with both her parents and her sister, Callie.”
Olivia’s jaw drops to the floor. “You dated Callie’s sister?”
“Yeah, she was my fiancé.”
