I stood from my seat on the couch, the letter and plane ticket still gripped in my fingertips. His eyes dropped to my hand, then flicked back up to me.
“Stanley gave you a letter of recommendation? For Stratford?” My tone was more accusatory than intended. I wanted to sound excited. A part of me was, but a bigger part—the selfish one—was scared shitless. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jake stood there, apology and regret mixed with something else—reluctance, maybe—painting his eyes.
“There’s nothing to tell.” He looked down at his shoes before his eyes found mine again, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Nothing to tell? This is a plane ticket to Seattle that’s leaving in four days, Jake.”
He bit the side of his cheek, seemingly unsure whether to respond or let me go off the way I clearly intended to. “This is a big deal. Stratford is a big deal. Like huge.” I looked at the paper, reading the words as they were printed. “Junior financial processor of the Northwest Division is a huge fucking deal, Jake.”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “I didn’t buy that ticket. Brian did.” He palmed the back of his neck. “He helped with the offer, too. It wasn’t all me.”
Shock tangled with sorrow in my chest for this perfect man who still couldn’t see his own greatness.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “Have you even read this letter?” I held the paper out to him.
He hesitated, gaze drifting awaybefore he answered, firm and quiet. “No.”
My stomach dropped. “Why not?”
The silence pressed in, and frustration began to churn beneath the ache in my heart. I stood, moving around the couch until I was directly in front of him. “Why haven’t you read it, Jake?”
He just looked at me, and that’s when it hit me.
He had already decided.
“Don’t tell me you’re throwing this away,” I said, my voice sharpening. “Don’t tell me that after giving up a once-in-a-lifetime internship, after retaking a class you’d already completed, you’re about to walk away from your second chance. People don’t usually get one of those, Jake, but you got two.” I swallowed. “Don’t give this up.”
A strained silence settled between us. My heart thudded in my ears, panic clawing through me at the thought of him throwing his life away.
“I am,” he said firmly, like there was no other answer worth considering.
My jaw dropped. “You can’t.” I shook my head. “No, you haven’t thought this through.”
“I have—”
“Have you, though?” I cut in. “Have you even considered that there might not be another chance? Another opportunity like this?” My voice cracked with urgency. “This is everything. You have to do this.”
His lips pressed together, frustration flickering across his face at my refusal to accept what he’d already decided. I didn’t care. He was wrong, and I needed him to see it.
“You are taking this job, Jake.”
“I don’t want it,” he said, tone firm and gaze locked on mine. “I don’t care about any of it. The letter. The job.”
I blinked. “What are you talkingabout?”
“It’s just a job, Alana.”
“It’s not just a job,” I shot back. “It’s a career.”
He drew in a slow breath. “There are things that matter more.”
“Likewhat?” I demanded, my blood boiling in my veins. I was angry, frustrated, unable to understand how blind he suddenly seemed.
He paused for a heartbeat. His eyes filled with a certainty that stunned me.
“You,” he said simply, and my erratically flustered heart grew still.
