Page 90 of Meet Me Back Here

“So, what the hell happened in Arizona?” Iris finishes with the pleasantries and cuts to the chase.

Unlike with my parents, I tell her everything. Well, everything I can share in front of a six-year-old, though my words are supplemented by some suggestive eyebrow raises that only Iris can see.

“It’s about damn time!” she squeals when I finish, kicking her feet against the couch cushion and reminding me of when we were nineteen, squeezed together on one of our dorm beds.

I can’t hold back my smile. Few things have felt as right as being with Forrest, now more than ever.

That’s kind of the problem. I’ve got perfect parts of my life in two very faraway places. My smile slips.

Iris scrutinizes me like she’s reading my mind, always a perceptive woman. Good luck to teenage Sam if she ever tries to keep secrets from her mom.

“You want to take the job,” she deduces.

And I nod. I haven’t admitted it to anybody yet, but I really want to take the job.

“I felt something so special working with the students last week. I love writing, but it’s solitary. Being able to create with them was a whole new kind of fulfillment. I’m not ready to give up writing, but if Jason meant what he said about working with my schedule, I’d still have time for it. Teaching would give me stability that writing can’t. It’s too fickle of an industry. Whether or not this romance sells, having this other career would help give me the freedom to write whatever my heart tells me to write. I won’t need to lock myself into multi-book deals out of fear of what’s to come.” I smile sadly, thinking of what I could do with this new opportunity. “It feels like I’m being offered a whole new world.”

“Then why do you look so miserable?” Iris asks.

“It’s a big move, and it’s not like last time. This is permanent—at least for a long while. It means moving out of this house and away from my life. Forrest and I are just starting back up, and it’s like I’m leaving him behind again,” I say.

“You need to talk to him,” Iris says, an obvious answer. “You can’t assume what this will or won’t mean for the two of you without that. I saw him after you left, and while it took him a bit to get his head out of his ass, he never stopped loving you. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I’d bet my right arm there’s no will stronger than his when it comes to you.” She reaches forward and squeezes my ankle.

“Is it fair of me to ask this of him?” It’s so much.

“Is it fair of you to make the choice for him?” Iris counters.

We both know I did last time.

But Forrest and I aren’t who we were then.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

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Ifeel like a kid again, waking up and knowing in my bones the second my eyes open that snow is waiting for me outside. When it snows, the light that squeezes past the blinds is different, and there’s a quiet suspense in the air, like the whole world is holding its breath. It started snowing yesterday evening, and I guess it kept going all night because the world is coated in a layer of white.

It’s still a week away, but at least my last Christmas in Massachusetts should be a white one. With how cold it’s supposed to stay, I don’t see this melting before then.

My phone buzzes on my nightstand. It’s Forrest. I sit up and answer the call.

“Hi,” I say cheerfully. I didn’t expect to hear from him yet. It’s very early, and he’s going to come by after work later today to tell me how the exam went. Yesterday, he said he wanted to tell me in person, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. “Is everything ok?”

“It is,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his words. “But it’s very cold out here. Can you please come downstairs and let me in?”

“Let you…? Oh!” I fly out of my bed, giving Jigsaw a minor heart attack—that poor cat has a chaotic life being tied to me—and run down the stairs, sliding on the floor and opening the door before hanging up.

Then I’m in the air, crashing into Forrest, who catches me and walks us back inside. His cheek is cold against mine, and his hand is ice on my back where my shirt rode up, but I couldn’t care less.

“You’re here,” I murmur against his chest. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“They told me I can come in at lunch because of yesterday’s test,” Forrest says as he sets me down.

“Oh.” I hesitate. Does that mean it was bad news? “Was it…?”

Forrest smiles. “The official score report will come later, but provisionally, I passed.”

I scream and fling myself at Forrest again. Jigsaw, who had collected enough courage to come down the stairs seems to regret that decision, turning and sprinting back up to my bedroom.