The words hit me like a slap in the face.
“We need to be logical. Once Pops is back on his feet, I’ll leave, and you’ll still be here. It’s pointless to upset him over something that won’t last.“
The air whooshes from my lungs like I’ve been sucker punched in the gut. Pain lances through my chest, and hollowness echoes in the empty spot where my heart was pounding seconds ago.
Be logical.
I knew Quinn and I were too good to be true. She’s better than this place. Than me. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up, shouldn’t have let myself fall as inevitable as it all was.
I was nevernotgoing to fall for Quinn Dawson, but having anything serious with her is completely illogical.
I swallow past the sharp ache in my throat. “Right. Of course,” I say, my voice rough as gravel as I remove my hand from her thigh.
I clear my throat and force a smile that’s just a mask for the pain tightening in my chest. I’m desperate not to show the hurt her words caused, but she sees straight through me like she always has.
“Tripp, I didn’t mean—“
I cut her off before she can try to make me feel better. “It’s fine. I get it,” I say with a shrug that’s meant to look casual, even though it feels like my heart’s been ripped from my chest. “I just promised Sawyer I’d talk to you about telling Wes is all.”
She stares out the window as I turn onto the long driveway toward the old farmhouse. When I put the truck in park, she looks at me. Her eyes are glassy, like a dam is on the verge of breaking.
I don’t know what to say. I’ve shown her all my cards, but I’ve still been dealt the losing hand. And we both know it.
I have nothing to offer.
Just me and my stupid, idiot heart.
“Quinnie...”
I reach for her, but she shakes her head and gives me a sad smile.
“I’ll see you later, Casanova. Thanks for the ride.”
Before I can open her door, she’s already out of my truck and on the porch, fingers swiping under her eyes as she pulls open the screen door.
I drop my head to the back of my seat and allow the torturous waves of emotion pummel me. I let myself drown in them as I count to ten before I finally exhale.
I drive home in silence, kill the engine, and sit in the dark, listening to the quiet click of the cooling metal as the misery settles in around me.
I think I just ruined everything with Quinn.
Head vs. Heart
Quinn
Pops is already in bed when I make it into the old farmhouse, and thank God because I barely make it into my room before I dissolve into tears.
Regret spears my chest. How had everything gone south so damn quickly. One minute we’d been laughing and the next…
I curl into a ball on the small twin bed, letting the bone-deep anguish wash over me as I recall the look on Tripp’s face when I’d said there was nothing to tell Wes. It was enough to cut me open, hemorrhaging remorse for the words that had left that stricken look on his features.
I hadn’t meant to hurt Tripp, but I needed to think through things rationally. Telling Wes would make this thing between us real, and that would make this decision, which is already so hard, damn near impossible.
I didn’t want him getting any closer. I didn’t want this to feel any more real than it already did.
Not when I couldn’t decide whether or not to go to Denver.
That job is the logical next step in my career. It should have been an immediate yes. And yet...
