“We can’t go back to the status quo.”
“No.” He scratched his chin absently. “I never let myself dream of everything falling into place so neatly.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve always said you wanted to go on vacation and then just stay, right?”
The blood drained from my head. “You’re not coming home.” It came out flat. His giddiness about the restaurant suddenly made perfect sense. He wasn’t sad, because he wasn’t giving anything up. “You’re staying.”
“I’m hopingwewill be staying here. It’s a huge opportunity. You’ve seen the restaurant, and look at this place.”
I stared at the water. Boats sailed out, heading somewhere different. People on those boats had plans that didn’t matter to me. I didn’t matter to them.
“Talk to me.” He leaned toward me, and I focused on taking long, slow breaths, hoping I wouldn’t pass out. “Chelsea?”
“You expect me to just move to Greece?” My voice sounded far away, and I bit my lip to stop it from quivering. I should’ve known this was too good to be true. Everyone always let me down eventually. Everyone but Elizabeth. “You went and made this decision without even asking me?”
“I don’t understand.” He shook his head. “When I asked about renting a place in Athens, you didn’t seem to object.”
“For the weekend. Not forever.” I fought back tears.
He pressed his lips together. “I thought you’d be a little happier about this.”
“Happy? That you unilaterally made plans for our future?”I folded my arms, searching my memory for all the clues I’d missed. I thought I’d been in control, but he’d played me to perfection to get everything he wanted. Or had I been deceiving myself?
“Come on, Chels. You always talk about wanting to see the world, to immerse yourself in culture. Think about how close we are to everything. Turkey is a boat ride away. Remember those beautiful towns in Croatia? Just a day’s drive from here. Your graphic design work can be done anywhere. And I can finally be the chef you’ve been pushing me to become since we met.”
“Those are arguments you might have made yesterday or the day before. How did any of that lead you to think I’d drop everything and move here to be with you?”
“Just today, you made me promise I wouldn’t stay here without you,” he said, with some impatience. And I had, but it was like a wish on a monkey’s paw, the way he’d twisted my words around.
“That isn’t what I meant, and you know it.” At his look of confusion, I clarified, “I wanted you to promise you wouldn’tstayat all.”
He sniffed, like I was the one making irrational demands. “You told me you wouldn’t go home alone,” he said, with more pleading in his voice.
I could hear how both of us misconstrued each other’s meaning, but I wasn’t in the mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. “I wanted you to come homewith me.”
“And I’m asking you to stay with me.” He reached across the table toward me. “You can take your time. You could go home and make up your mind.”
“I can take my time? Wow.”
“Come on, Chelsea. Just think about it.”
“And if I said no? Would you go home with me?” He didn’t answer. “That’s what I thought.” I stood. “You’re choosing Greece over me.”
“Did you hear me? I’m not choosing. I want you both.”
“Well, you might have to.” I dropped my napkin on my plate. “I’m not hungry after all.”
I went back to my room. Not our room, because Greece had already sorted us as if it knew it would want to spit me out. Bas could have all of this. Greece didn’t want me. And without Greece, Bas didn’t want me, either. How could he expect me to change my entire life without so much as a conversation first?
How could he claim to love me if he was so quick to let me walk away?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Basil
Challenge: Take a day trip to a new town
