AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I chuckled. “She’s a smart woman.”
“She is. She really is. For so long, I’ve thought that I was a mirror image of my father. That I hurt the people closest to me, and I had no control over the fury that burned through me. But my mom made me realize that I’m not just like my dad. That I get to choose who I am. And I choose to never be that person ever again.”
“Sounds like a good start.”
“And I want you to know that Seattle…” He shook his head, taking a step forward and reaching for my hand. I thought I’d pull away, but God, his hand felt so right in mine. “Seattle was never a pipe dream. I shouldn’t have said that. It was what I really wanted.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
“I know this won’t make up for how I reacted last weekend, but I might have a solution.”
I tilted my head. “A solution to what?”
“Seattle.”
“Oh. There’s no solution to that, Jordan. Once ranks are in, that’s that.”
“I know that that is normally how it works,” he assured me. “But I decided to see if there was a way around it. So, I spent the last week on the phone with Cush figuring out who to speak to about the position. You earned it on your own merit, I just pulled the strings to make it happen.”
My body froze in place. My brain couldn’t catch up to the words that he was saying. I blinked and blinked again. This couldn’t be real. It just…it wasn’t possible.
“What are you saying?”
“Seattle is going to offer you a place in their residency program,” he told me. “And I want to go with you, Annie.”
My hands were shaking. “How…how is that possible? I just…I can’t believe it, Jordan.”
“You only chose Lubbock because of me. I’ll be damned if you stay here and regret it.” He took my hands in his. “I want you to have everything, Annie. Everything and more.”
“But…what about your mom?” I gasped.
“I spoke to her and Julian. We discussed me leaving and they both agreed that this was different than last time. I was going to stay in Vancouver for no real reason except complacency. If I wanted to be with you, then leaving made sense.”
“But your job…”
“I’d already discussed it with Morgan.”
My eyes widened. “You had?”
He nodded. “Long before I knew about this. She said I could work in a Seattle office and commute on and off to Vancouver. I would do anything to make it work.”
Tears formed in my eyes. Damn it! I’d sworn that I wouldn’t cry. But somehow, that stupid comment had hit me so hard in the feels. Because I had wanted Seattle and I wanted to make it work so bad, too. I’d wanted what he’d had there that weekend so bad.
And now…here he was, offering to me on a silver platter.
Everything I’d ever wanted.
The residency. A cross-country move. The man of my dreams.
Except…was it what I wanted? Was it really?
“No,” I said softly.
Jordan’s brow furrowed. “No? You don’t want me to go?”
I laughed softly. “No. I think you were right last weekend.”
He looked cautious. “About what?”
“As much as I hadn’t wanted to hear it, Seattle was a pipe dream.”
“It can be real.”
I shook my head. This felt right. This felt more right than anything else. I’d wanted Seattle for no real reason except that I’d convinced myself that I wanted to get the hell out of Lubbock. But did I really want to go? When I stopped to think about it, it didn’t even feel real. My best friends were here. My parents and Isaac and Aly were here. Isaac and Peyton’s wedding was happening soon. And Jordan…Jordan was here with his family, too. If I wanted something with him, would he hate that I’d taken him away? As much as he thought I’d hate him for taking away Seattle? How could I leave when I had everything right here?
“I could,” I said carefully. “I can’t even believe that you managed to circumvent the ranking system. Is there anything a Wright can’t do?” He laughed, a real smile hitting his features. “But we’d just decided on Seattle because I’d always said I wanted to leave. At the end of the day, if I’d wanted to leave, wouldn’t I have done it a lot sooner? I love Lubbock. Everyone I love is here. So, when the choice came, it was so easy to change my order, Jordan. Too easy. I did it as soon as we found out about your mom. It was almost like I never really wanted to go in the first place.”
“Fuck,” he breathed. “That same night?”
“Yes. I’d been planning to surprise you the night of the party. To tell you that we didn’t have to move to Seattle. We could stay here with your mom and be happy. But then…”
