He smiles and brings me my tea. “Well, my toe is just fine, thanks.”
I smile but I want to say more. Instead, I sip my tea. It’s hot and I blow on it. Casey watches me and his gaze heats up, too.
“What do you plan to do now that you’ve gotten your Masters?”
“Well,” I say and walk up next to him while he prepares himself a protein shake. “I don’t know.”
He grins. “I find that hard to believe. Sage Summers doesn’t know what to do next.”
I shake my head. “I really don’t.”
“Mmm… something tells me it’s not from a lack of options. You attract many of those.”
I look up at him and wonder if we’re still talking about my work or if he’s asking me about my social life. I stick to work where it’s safer. “I do have an offer, but it’s not something I’m really considering.”
“What is it?”
“One of my professors spoke to me after my exam.”
He takes a sip of his shake and is watching me over the rim. “Go on.”
I sigh and get the rest over with. “He asked if I wanted to be part of a research team at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, Sage. Congratulations.”
His smile is genuine and I hate to disappoint him. “I’m not going to take it.”
There it is. A frown. “Why not? Isn’t that what you’re interested in doing?”
“Yes. It’s exactly what I want to get into. It’s an opportunity to help hundreds, even thousands of people through research.”
He shakes his head. “Then, I don’t get it. Why say no?”
“Because it’s in New York,” I snap a little too quickly, and perhaps a bit too harshly. I calm my voice. “Cedar Brook Falls is my home. I said I would never leave it.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
My eyes bulge, and I nearly choke on a sip of tea. “What?”
“You heard me. That’s ridiculous. Cedar Brook Falls shouldn’t keep you from doing what you love to do.”
“It’s not. I can still help those in the community by practicing what I love.”
“But you have the opportunity, as you said, to help potentially thousands of people. There’s barely three thousand people in all of the Falls.”
“It’s where I’ve always envisioned myself to be. It’s my home. I won’t leave it.”
“Why are you so loyal to a place? You should be loyal to yourself.”
“I think that’s an oxymoron. You can’t be loyal to yourself. You can only be loyal to others. So, I guess in a way I’m not loyal to the Falls but to the people who took me in when I had nothing left. Like Jane, Charlotte, and Frankie.”
I put the cup down and think about what I’d just said. It was true. I owed them everything. I wouldn’t have survived without them. I could never leave them.
“The people you love shouldn’t hold you back. They should love you enough to let you go and pursue your dreams.”
“They’re not holding me back. They don’t even know about the offer. I’m choosing not to go.”
“You’re choosing not to go?”
