I follow Austin up the stairs to the room I’ve been staying in. He closes the door behind us. “Okay, Miss Spontaneity, let’s play catch up for a minute, okay? My mind is spinnin’ darlin’, and I need some answers from you.”
“Okay,” I tell him. He’s freshly showered and in dry clothes, clothes that don’t resemble ones I’ve ever seen him in, but it’s obvious he’s trying to fit in here with his Henley long-sleeve shirt and casual jeans. “You look very Boston, by the way.”
“Scarlett ... ”
“I don’t want to be up here anymore,” I tell him. “This doesn’t feel like home to me.”
He sits down on the window sill and crosses his leg over his knee. “Okay, so where do you want to go?”
“Back home.”
Austin’s eyebrows sew together. “Isn’t this home?”
“Home is where a person can spend forever.”
“And this is coming from a person who can’t think about tomorrow? I’m confused.”
“I was happy in South Carolina—in Blytheville, but I was feeling a lot of guilt, knowing my mom was here still living through the horrors I was forced to live with for so long. I don’t think I could ever fully be happy anywhere because of that.” Austin is starting to look nervous, which I can understand. I’m probably not talking fast enough, but I know it will all make sense when I get it out.
“I want to live in Blytheville, and I want to find a good place for my mom to live. I need to get her out of this state.”
“That’s all this is?” he asks. “Why didn’t you just say so? I would have helped you.”
“Everything hit me very hard when we were talking earlier. I couldn’t figure out why I was so uncomfortable everywhere, or why I’ve been too scared to think about tomorrow. Then it dawned on me. If I know she’s okay, I can be okay.”
“Of course,” he agrees. “I’m glad you figured it out.”
I sit down on the bed and inhale sharply through my nose. “Yup.”
“So, why were you upset about me going into the hotel you interviewed at?”
I look up at him. His face is clean of emotion, but his eyes are full of apprehension. “They offered me a job.”
“That’s amazing,” he says. “Or not ... ” He laughs softly. “Scarlett, I don’t know what you want, darlin’. Just tell me.”
“I thanked them for the offer, but turned the job down.”
Austin smiles, but it fades after a second. “That’s why you’re scared to go in there?”
“No,” I tell him.
“Okay, I give up?”
“They offered me more money to take the position, but I said no.”
“Oh, wow they really wanted you, huh?”
“Yeah. They offered me even more when I said no again. I honestly don’t know why, but I turned down a salary most sane people wouldn’t turn down.”
“Wait, what?”
“I don’t know, Austin. While I was sitting in the interview, looking out the window at the surrounding buildings, I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I realized that if I had to think about the future … that was not what I wanted for the rest of my life. There’s really no amount of money that’s worth more than happiness.”
“How much are we talkin’ here?”
“Eighty-thousand plus benefits and housing.”
“Holy crap, Scarlett. Do they have a hotel in South Carolina?” he asks.
