“I guess it was meant to be.”
He glanced at Katie before leaving his box beside hers. With everything inside of him, he wished a lot of other things were meant to be. “When are you leaving for the meeting in Los Angeles?”
“On Thursday morning.”
“That’s tomorrow.”
“It was the only available seat I could find. A lot of people must be escaping the cold to go to California.”
Peter frowned. “Is someone picking you up from the airport?”
“Nalini, my agent, will be waiting for me. I’ll spend the night at her apartment before meeting the team from Plumridge Books the following morning. After I’ve spoken to them, I’ll head out to UCLA to look at the arts faculty and at the accommodation they’re offering. I’ll have dinner with some friends that night, then fly home on Saturday.”
He wouldn’t ask her if she was signing the contract—he already knew the answer. “You have a full schedule.”
Katie walked across to a wall of cupboards and opened the doors. “I wanted to make the most of my time while I was there. I haven’t been back to Los Angeles since Grandma died.” Taking three mugs out of the cupboard, she turned to Peter. “I still haven’t made up my mind about the Writers in Residence Program.”
“But you want to live in Los Angeles?”
“I think so.”
Peter swallowed the fear rising inside of him. If he didn’t tell Katie how he felt about her, it could be too late by the weekend. “I love you, Katie. Whatever decision you make about living in Los Angeles is up to you, but I can’t handle another long-distance relationship. I missed you while I was in New York and I can’t imagine spending six months away from you.”
“I missed you, too. Even if I’m living in Los Angeles, we could make it work. We could—”
“I can’t do it, Katie. If I didn’t have a business to run, I’d move to the end of the world for you. But I can’t afford to open an office in Los Angeles.”
“I never expected you would.”
Peter ran his hand through his hair. He’d always been in control of his own destiny, always searching for ways to make life better for him and the people he cared about. But, this time, all he had was complete and utter honesty to try to make Katie see how much she meant to him.
“While I was in Manhattan, I asked my team how they felt about starting another BioTech office in Sapphire Bay. I’ve never seen so many people excited to move to another part of the country.”
Katie’s mouth dropped open. “You’d move here? For me?”
“Unless you’re prepared to stay here or move to New York City, I can’t see any way we can be together.”
“The Writers in Residence Program is only for six months. I could come back after that and—”
“The last two weeks felt like a lifetime. Six months will be worse.”
The door swung open and Zac carried another box into the kitchen. “It’s so cold outside I’m sure I’ve got frostbite. Is the coffee hot?”
Peter looked down at the coffeepot. He hadn’t even plugged it in. “Not yet.”
Zac’s gaze moved from Peter to Katie and back again. “You were discussing something important, weren’t you?”
Katie sent him a strained smile. “It’s okay. I was about to leave, anyway.”
Peter’s heart pounded. “We need to talk about what—”
“It won’t change anything. I’ll give you a call when I get back from Los Angeles.”
And with her chin held high, she left the kitchen.
Zac waited until they heard the click of the front door before saying anything. “That didn’t sound promising.”
“It wasn’t supposed to. She’s moving back to Los Angeles.”
