“Duh.” Ava stuffs a forkful of hash browns into her mouth. “Daisy deserves so much better than friends with benefits, and you know it.”
“I agree. But Daisy’s capable of making her own decisions.”
“She is way too important to you, and you’re way too important to her.” Ava takes another bite of food. “Daisy’s my friend, too, you know. And she should have someone who is here, one hundred percent.”
I’d love to be that person for Daisy—I would in a heartbeat—but that means a commitment from me to stay and a commitment from her to let me in. Eleanor hasn’t whispered a word about that job with Tate, if they’re even still planning to hire someone. I could make a home here, but would that just spook Daisy into establishing more rules for our relationship?
“Why don’t you wanna stick around?” Ava asks, and she looks so small, like the eight-year-old who waved goodbye to me at the airport before I left for college.
“Hey. I’m…I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”
She shrugs. “It’s no biggie.”
“I don’t want you to feel like my leaving is ever, or has ever been, me abandoning you.”
“I know.” Her eyes flash to mine, and she grins. “You can’t get rid of me that easy. But I can hold a grudge like nobody’s business, so figure out what you really want, okay?”
I smile, despite the unease gnawing at my insides. “Noted.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Daisy, 18 Years Old
Max’s acceptance letter shook in my hands. Los Angeles was far, but this was another world.
“Crazy, right?” Max sat next to me on the bench outside of the casita, a huge grin on his face.
“Not crazy,” I said, nudging him with a halfhearted smile. “Of course they want you.”
I thought he was coming over today to…what? Talk about last night? I dreaded the conversation as much as I yearned for it. I’d wanted to kiss him so badly, but I knew it was a bad idea. Wasn’t it?
But, no. Max ran over to my house breathless for another reason.
I scanned the paper again. World-class professors. Opportunities he could never find in Harlow, not even in California. And most importantly, a full scholarship. He wouldn’t be indebted to his parents—and he’d probably like the distance from them.
My heart pinched, but I smiled through it.
“What about…” I looked for the paragraph. “The summer institute. That starts—” I swallowed. “It’s like two weeks away.”
“It sounds interesting.” He shrugged, taking the paper back. “I’d meet people in the program, get some extra training. The visiting instructors sound cool, too.”
His eyes lit up the more he talked about the pre-college program offered only to selected rising freshmen. An opportunity of a lifetime that he would only have this summer. He needed to decide, and soon.
“I don’t know, though.” He scratched the back of his head, his attention flicking to me. “It’s not a requirement.”
“You’re not actually considering not doing this, are you?”
“I got in last minute. They won’t hold it against me for wanting to keep my summer plans.”
“What plans?” As far as I knew, he wanted to get as many shifts at the thrift store as he could to save up for school.
Max shrugged again, his cheeks turning red. “I kinda thought it would give me more time here. We could hang out and stuff.”
Oh.
He’d pass up this incredible opportunity for a few months with me, but that wasn’t fair to him, or to me. At the end of August, what would he do? He’d still go to Dublin, and that departure would hurt even more after a perfect summer together. Or maybe he’d change his mind. That turned my stomach. When someone gives something up in a relationship, bitterness bubbles up—Mom and Dad were living proof.
I couldn’t do that with Max—be the person who dims his life and goals. I shouldn’t have ever let prom night go as far as it did.
