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“Lena, I wanted to talk to you, to explain something to you,” he said and looked up at her. He put one of his hands over hers, gave it a squeeze, and the smile he gave her was a little forced.
“Rory, you’re kind of scaring me.” They’d talked on the phone a few times since that night at her place, but he’d been working a lot, and she hadn’t actually gotten a chance to see him until now.
He gave her another smile, this time not so forced. “I don’t mean to be, and I should have talked to you about this when I first found out last week, but I guess I was just looking for the right time to tell you.”
She didn’t know what he was talking about, but she sat up straighter, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She didn’t speak again, just waited. It was clear he was working up the nerve to say what he needed to tell her.
“I got offered a job, Lena.” He stared into her eyes. “It’s a damn good job, in fact, one that will have me making enough that I can get a place where you’re going to school and support you while you focus on your studies.” He leaned forward and smiled, lifted her hands to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles. “Baby, I can take care of you while you worry about school.”
Her heart was beating so hard she felt dizzy. “That’s incredible, Rory, but I feel like there is also a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”
He exhaled and leaned back again. He didn’t speak right away, and although she was happy, excited even that Rory found a job that was that incredible, there was that “what else is there” feeling filling her.
“The job was brought up by Mickey and James at the garage. They are getting positions as well, and when they brought it up to me, I applied. I didn’t think I’d actually get it, but …” He shrugged and left the conversation hang after that word.
God, she loved him so much. It wasn’t just that he was so damn attractive, and that the girls in this restaurant had no shame as they checked him out while Lena sat right across from him. She’d long since gotten rid of the jealousy, of the worry that he’d leave her one day and find someone thinner or prettier. Being with Rory, having a relationship with him, was so much more than just being boyfriend and girlfriend. They were perfect for each other, made for each other, and nothing would ever change that. Right now, she was just confused, and her worry was piqued because it felt like this heavy weight was moving between them.
He was leaning back on the chair, the hat he wore frayed around the brim, and the shirt that was stretched over his wide, muscular chest, showed a few of the tattoos under the material. He was big, so big and powerful, so strong and confident in everything he did. But right now, he was nervous. That was clear by how he bounced his foot, his leg moving up and down under the table, the strained look on his face, and the fact he looked at her as if he didn’t want to really talk about whatever he’d called her here for.
“Rory, I love you, but what is it that you’re not telling me?”
He ran a hand over his scruff-covered jaw and leaned forward again.
“The job is great, but I have to leave, Lena.”
“Leave?” she asked. “Like town, commuting or something?” Although she asked the question, she knew the answer already, could feel it in her stomach, deep in the recesses of her cells. Just by the way he looked told her that this wasn’t about him commuting. This was about him leaving her.
7
Rory felt like shit right now, not because he’d taken the job but because he hadn’t told Lena sooner. Like right the fuck when he’d found out he was leaving. He stared at her, at the way her brow was furrowed, the stress on her expression.
“You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”
He shook his head. “Baby, I’m just leaving town. I’d never leave you. It’s you and me forever.” His throat was tight as he continued to watch her. He knew she’d see this as him leaving her and that this would hurt her. Fuck, this hurt him, too. “I don’t want you ever to think I’d leave you because you’re it for me, Lena. I don’t ever want anyone else.”
“You’re it for me, too, Rory, but this is such a shock.”
“I know, baby.” He smiled, hoping she’d see the love he had for her, because what he was about to say would make this harder. “The job requires me to leave town for the next year, Lena.”
