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“You sure are feeling cocky today, aren’t you? Yes. He proposed, but we weren’t in love. He’d just found himself again and wanted me to be the person who gave him his life back. I was not in love with him. Plus, I had to turn the proposal down. You remember his last name… it would have been a big issue for me.” I smirked because it still made me laugh every time I thought about it.
“Yes. You would have been Mrs. Ruby Looby.” His laughter echoed around the room. “But his name was not the problem.”
“Correct. I didn’t reciprocate the feelings he had. And we’re still good friends. He’s married and has a little girl now. So, it all worked out.”
“Yep. Your work was done, and you moved on to the professor.” He reached for his coffee.
“Don’t serial-date-shame me. There was a good year in between each of those relationships. And the professor was fine. He wasn’t broken. So, your theory just went down the shitter, Daddy dearest.”
He nodded, his gaze locked with mine. “An older man who’s never been married. Believes he’s incapable of love. And then he falls for his much younger teaching assistant after she fixes him.”
“You make it all sound so scandalous. I wasn’t looking for anything long-term, and I’ve always been open about that. But I enjoyed his company, and I was happy to see him come into his own. He wasn’t just an intellect with no personality. He’s a good man. He’ll make someone very happy someday—that person just isn’t me.”
“I think we’re saying the same thing, sweetheart. You fix them, and you leave them. It’s a habit.”
“Well, lucky for you, you’re all fixed up now, and I will be on my way soon.” I kissed his cheek and walked to the sink to rinse my glass.
“What about River? You two seemed to be spending an awful lot of time together these last eight weeks. And now, it’s just over, just in time for you to leave?”
“Your theory will for sure die there, Dad. River Pierce does not need fixing. He’s a confident man who knows exactly who he is and what he wants. He feels very worthy of being fawned all over.” I laughed, but it wasn’t genuine, because thinking about him hurt like hell. “There was nothing to fix.”
Because he was perfect exactly how he was.
And I wasn’t desperate to get away from him because I didn’t reciprocate his feelings; I was desperate to get away from him because, for the first time in my life, I was the one with the feelings.
And that scared the hell out of me.
Rule number one: Don’t catch feelings.
I’d always been able to live by that motto, until I couldn’t.
When it came to River, I’d broken that one pretty quickly.
Maybe things were reversed this time around for me. Because I’d been the broken one when he’d kissed me for the first time all those weeks ago. And in a way, he’d put me back together.
I just didn’t know what to do about it.
Everything I thought I knew, thought I wanted, was waiting for me far from here.
All I had to do was sign the contract and head back to my safe little life.
It was what I should do.
I was leaving in three days. Time was ticking.
“He’s definitely not broken. You two are actually a lot alike,” Dad said.
“How do you figure?” I asked, grabbing my purse and pulling the strap over my shoulder.
“You both like to take care of everyone around you, and you don’t need anyone to take care of you. It’s brilliant in a lot of ways, but I imagine it could get really lonely, too.”
“Okay, you weepy sap. Enough psychoanalyzing me for the day. I’m off to meet Terrence and say goodbye to the boys. I’ll call you later.”
Our conversation really hit home, and a day I’d thought would be filled with happy goodbyes had actually turned out to be much more difficult than I’d anticipated. I felt like I was leaving my life behind, and that was not how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to be beginning my new life, the one I’d worked so hard for, the one that would make me feel like I’d achieved all that I’d strived for. The one that said I’d made it, and I was now just as good as everyone else. But it didn’t feel that way at all.
I’d actually cried when I’d hugged Pearl goodbye, and she’d done the same, catching me completely off guard. I’d then headed to Fresh Start, and again, I’d been caught completely off guard. Meeting with Terrence had been both exciting and confusing. He’d offered me an actual position working with the kids there. He’d spent all these weeks getting a position approved and hadn’t wanted to tell me in case it didn’t happen.He’d received the paperwork late yesterday and sprung the whole thing on me today.
It was a good offer.
