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Pulling me into his chest, he rests his chin on my forehead. “I just wish I could see you more.”
“I do you too.”
His mouth dips to my neck, kissing my delicate skin softly. “I miss this body…”
Humming in approval, I nearly succumb to his distraction but briskly brush him off again. “I get it, but I have to finish school, Adam.”
“It’s just nursing school. You could transfer, right?”
Sighing, I turn back to the sink and pick up my toothbrush, squeezing a dab of toothpaste on the bristles. “Like I’ve told you before, it’s not that simple. Besides, going through this program means something to me.”
He rolls his eyes again as he leaves the bathroom. “Yeah, I know. Your grandpa went there or something, right?”
His words sting, but I try to brush them off like I usually do. “Great-grandma,” I mumble around my toothbrush.
He snaps his fingers and picks up his pants. “Right. Great-grandma.”
Once I’m done brushing my teeth, I return to the room to find him almost completely dressed. A motel-room meetup isn’t ideal, but meeting halfway between Nashville and Garnet Valley is the only way we could see each other this week.
“Just be patient with me, please.”
“I’m trying.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I peer up at him. “Once I’m done with school, we will have so much more time to do whatever we want, okay?”
“Like fucking,” he replies, making me laugh.
“Yeah, and you know, hiking…”
His brows draw together. “Hiking?”
“Yeah, hiking. You said it was one of your favorite things to do on the weekends…”
His eyes widen and then he’s nodding slowly. “Oh, right. Yeah, I love hiking.”
His reaction gives me pause, but I don’t have time to dwell on it. “Look, I’ve got to go. I still have to stop by my house to get my bag and books before class.” Pressing a kiss to his cheek, I grab my purse and head for the door. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
His crooked smile returns. “Yeah. Have a good day, babe.”
“You too.”
I race down the steps from the second floor of the motel and jump into my car, speeding back to Garnet Valley while mentally revisiting what we’re covering in class this week. The semester just started three weeks ago, but I’m already deep in the work and keeping up with lessons so I’m prepared for my work experience hours and labs.
The crazy part is, if you had asked me ten years ago if pursuing a career in nursing was in the cards for me, I would have told you that pigs would fly before I considered a job like that. The last thing I ever wanted for my life was a “normal” job with structure, repetition, and monotony.
But a few years ago, I finally took a good look at where my life was going. I was lying in my childhood room, staring up at the ceiling, realizing that I was still living with my parents at the age of twenty-four, when reality slammed into me—everyone else around me was moving on with their lives, and I felt like I was being left behind.
I thought I was being bold by refusing to conform to societal expectations and not choosing college right after high school, instead taking a full year to travel. Then when I returned, I got a job with the least amount of responsibility so that I could continue to go wherever the wind took me over the next several years.
Hell, I even lived in an RV for a year at twenty-two as I drove all over the country, working odd jobs here and there so I had enough money to get by. I was hell-bent on proving that I was the smart one while everyone else was busy building a life most people end up resenting.
Turns out, it was just fear disguised as stubbornness.
And then my father had a heart attack.
It was the scariest day of my life, being hundreds of miles away from home and feeling helpless.
The week I spent at the hospital when I returned home brought me so much clarity, though it created confusion in other aspects—namely those involving Easton.
