“Yeah. Things move quick in that world.”
They both go quiet, letting the information settle. I stare out the window, at the sunlight dripping through Spanish moss, and try to feel something like excitement.
“Are you… happy?” Gabby asks.
“I should be.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I exhale. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t look happy,” Stella says softly.
The lump in my throat rises again, unexpected and sharp. I take a sip of coffee, then admit, “If Nash had asked me to stay… I would have.”
Stella blinks. “But he didn’t?”
“No.” I shake my head. “He said he wanted me to take the job. That this was everything we’d been working for and he didn’t want to stand in the way of my dream.”
“And you believed that?” Gabby asks.
I look down at the swirl of foam in my cup. “I think he meant it. I think he wants what’s best for me. It’s just that he feels pretty damn good for me, too. I knew the bubble would pop. I think part of me hoped it wouldn’t.”
The silence that follows is heavier. But it feels good to say it. To finallyadmitit out loud.
Stella reaches for my hand and squeezes. “Anything can happen. Three days is a long time in romance novels.”
I smile, but it’s the kind that hurts.
“Too bad this isn’t a romance novel.”
Gabby leans back, raising her brows. “So how’d you guys leave it?”
“It’s all happening super fast so it’s kind of a work in progress, but it looks like we’re gonna try the long-distance thing. He’ll keep my stuff while I’m gone. My car, too. He even says I’ll have a place to land when the tour’s over. That the spare room is mine for as long as I want it.”
The girls exclaim with excitement.
“Yeah. I mean, with video chat and text and all that, it should be easy.”
All three of our heads nod and bob in agreement but the look on my friends’ faces, the feeling in my heart, say what we can’t…
This is the hardest best thing to ever happen to me.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Nash
My house wasn’t loud before Lucy moved in. I didn’t keep music playing or talk to myself or throw impromptu dance parties in the kitchen. I lived quietly. Liked it that way.
But today the quiet feels different.
It stretches.
Lingers.
Judges.
Lucy’s out with Stella and Gabby, probably drinking too much coffee and pretending she’s excited about leaving. I saw it in her eyes this morning—the way they dropped when I asked if she was looking forward to the tour. She said she’d miss me. Hugged me like she meant it. I told her we’d stay in touch.
