Chapter Ten
Islouchedinto the couch and held my head in my hands. “There goes myplan.”
Dylan lowered to my side. “Whatplan?”
I dropped my hands and eyed the red words on the screen once more. Funny… I was frustrated but not that upset. Not like I’d expect to be. “I’d planned on registering for my classes toward my bachelor’s in socialwork.”
“Right. Zoey told me you were doingthat.”
The tone in his voice spoke volumes tome.
I looked at him. “Not you,too.”
His eyes shot wide and his shoulders lifted. “What?”
“Don’t play innocent. That look doesn’t work with your clean-cut hairdo,” I teased. “You think I’m making a mistake,too.”
“Mistake? No. I do think you're doing this because you needed a plan. Zoey knows what she wants. Sadie knows what she wants. You used to know what you wanted, but now. Now you looklost.”
“I had a plan. A plan that I constructed from the rubble of my life when everyone leftme.”
Dylan took my hand. I tried to yank it away, but he held tight. “Yes, because you didn’t have a choice. You had to survive. Now you do have achoice.”
“What choice?” I eyed him with my best you-don’t-understandlook.
“Any. Just make a choice. Don’t fall into what you think is expected. Go back to dreaming. Pull out your writing and give it a try. See the world.” He let my hands go and cupped my face. His fingers were bigger, stronger now from his seventeen-year-old version. I rested into them as if they were holding me up. “Be withme.”
My mouth fell open. I studied him to see if he was joking, but not even a smile creased his lips. “Did you get hit with a cannonball in your head when you wereoverseas?”
“We don’t use cannonballs anymore,” he said with the most serious expression, despite his humor. “I’m serious, Aves. We’ve lived apart too long. Our family ran off or checked out on us, but we survived. I left this town a broken boy, but I returned a solid man. Look atme.”
He nudged my head so that our eyes met. “I have never stopped loving you. We know each other’s darkest secrets and still care about each other. I don’t make a lot of money, but I plan to go to officer training school. If we choose to end my military career in another four years, I’ll have a degree to work in the outside world. I’d be the first to finish college in my family. I’ll support you while you write. I’ll take care of you the way our parents never took care of us, or I’ll give you freedom to take care of yourself. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’tsettle.”
I couldn’t breathe. It was as if the room had been fumigated and we were left with no oxygen, only rib-stinging, toxic air. His lips were as full as they were when we were teenagers. His eyes held the same amount of blue specs. He was right… I knew him. I loved him. But I wouldn’t survive another person leaving me. “Ican’t.”
“Don’t be scared,” heurged.
I shoved from him and paced the room. “I’m not. Listen… You left. You have a life away from here. This is my home. Things change. We grew up, and we grew apart. Even if you hadn’t left without a word, we still wouldn’t be together because I won’t abandon my sisters like that. I won’t run away like mymother.”
Dylan rose and crossed the room, towering over me. “You are nothing like your mother,” he said with such conviction in his voice I almost believedhim.
Almost.
“You came to apologize, and you have. You’re forgiven, so now you can return to your new life with no guilt. We can both move on with our lives. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get dressed so I can try to beg the university administration to let meregister.”
Dylan only nodded, retrieved his boots, and went outside. My heart followed him, but my mind slammed the door between us. No. I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t run from Magnolia Corners, I wouldn’t give up on my plan to give back to my community as a social worker, and I wouldn’t give Dylan my heart again. I didn’t need anyone in my life but my sisters. They were the ones I had always counted on, and they had never let medown.
And right now, Sadie needed me to man the store in Magnolia Corners while she expanded the business. She’d given me everything, and I hadn’t made it easy for her. Now it was my turn to give back to the one who never gave up on me, never ran away, never abandoned me no matter how difficult I made it for her to loveme.
I hopped into the shower, dressed, and headed from my room to go rescue myplan.
Zoey sat on the couch watching television and texting. “Where you offto?”
“School. Since you didn’t wake me up to register for my classes, I have to go beg them to let me in. I’m not sure it’ll work, but I have to try. Why didn’t you wake meup?”
“I did, but you told me to go away, that you were having an amazing dream about Dylan,” she said in a little-girl-teasingway.
I couldn’t think of a witty comeback, so I headed for thedoor.
“You might want to rethink yourplan.”
I whirled on her. “I am not running away with Dylan, so stop pressuring me. And you do not get to decide my future. I do. I’m the only one who gets to choose what I do for the rest of my life. Not Sadie, not you, not Dylan, not Sheriff Milton. No one. Only me. Gotthat?”
“Got it, but it won’t do any good to drive to school today.” Zoey returned to her texting, but I knew she was waiting for me toask.
“Okay, I’ll bite. Whynot?”
“Because it’s Sunday. The school offices areclosed.”
