Her excitement was like a punch to the gut. Sawyer knew how much her career meant to her, how hard she’d worked to make a name for herself in the industry. But to see the exhilaration in her eyes as she excitedly talked about leaving made him want to punch the wall.
Dammit!He wasn’t ready to let her go.
“What aboutthisproject?” he asked.
Her eyes widened, her dubious expression telling him that she hadn’t even considered how her leaving would affect all that they’d strived to accomplish these past weeks.
“Bolt-Myer is sending in another project manager to work with you this week. Perry Conner. He’s more than capable of helping you finish up the revised initial concept package.”
“What about Gauthier?” Sawyer asked. Her brow furrowed, which made him angry. “You said it yourself. No one is going to care about this project as much as we do, because we both love this town and the people who live here. Is this Conner guy going to care whether or not the absolute best job is done, or is Gauthier going to be like any other little town to him? I can’t believe after all we’ve done to save this place from disaster that you would just pick up and leave.”
“Sawyer, don’t,” she bit out.
“Don’t? Don’t bring up the fact that you’re leaving your community in the lurch?”
“That is completely unfair. This is my career we’re talking about here.”
“Yeah, and apparently your career means more to you than Gauthier does.”
Her jaw stiffened with contempt. “You son of a bitch. How dare you try to make me feel guilty for wanting to do what’s best for my career?”
“If that’s what it takes to make you see the mistake you’re making.”
“You don’t get to make me feel guilty. That silver spoon you were born with negates your right to tell meanythingwhen it comes to my hard work.”
“Of course.” Sawyer threw his hands up. “Here we go with the spoiled-rich-boy rant. I knew you would bring that up.”
“You’re damn right I will. You don’t know what I’ve had to sacrifice—what I’ve had to endure to get where I am in my career. This project meanseverythingto me.”
“The same way your mother’s bar means everything to her,” he said. “And the way the Lions Club hall means everything to the people who bring their kids there for after-school day care. And the way the shelter means everything to all those animals that count on it for survival. It’s not just about you and your career. This project was supposed to mean more.”
She stared him down with a dark, cynical expression. “That’s really easy for someone who has never had to work for anything.”
His head jerked back. “Excuseme?”
“You work because you want to. You never had to,” she said. “You can give up this job tomorrow, and it would just be business as usual for you. You don’t have to worry about your next meal or keeping a roof over your head or any of the other things that a person like me could never count on.”
She stepped up to him, getting right in his face. “You want to know why we could never work? Because it doesn’t matter how many times I try to explain it—you will never understand my life and what I’ve had to live through just to make it to the next day. You will never fully know what it feels like to wonder if you’ll get to eat when you wake up in the morning, or if the electric company finally decided to cut the lights off, or if one slow night at Harlon’s means that your family won’t have enough money to pay the note on a crappy single-wide trailer that cost less than that fancy truck you used to drive.
“So, yes, I’m leaving tomorrow, because my future isn’t secured by a trust fund. It requires hard work and sacrifice and tough choices. It’s not always pretty, but it’s what I’ve had to deal with my entire life. Welcome to my world, Sawyer.”
She picked up her bag and walked out of the house without another word.
“The Netherlands?”
The look of hurt on Shayla’s face was enough to make Paxton’s stomach churn, but it was nothing compared with Belinda’s dour expression.
“Honestly,” Paxton said as she poured whiskey into a highball glass, “it’s not a huge deal. It’s only for two months.”
“But it’s halfway around the world,” Shayla said.
A crack of thunder rent the air, punctuating her words. The rain had been relentless, pouring from the sky over the past two hours without a break.
“When you think about it, my being in the Netherlands won’t be all that different from being in Little Rock. I can still call and email and video-chat the same way I do when I’m in Arkansas.”
“Yes, but if there’s an emergency, you can’t just get in your car and drive home,” Belinda pointed out.
“What kind of emergency do you expect?” Paxton asked.
