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Was she wrong to cling to him if he’d determined it was time for him to move on?
She still had three months with him.
Unless he’d decided to end his sabbatical early.
Fear struck her again.
“I’m sorry, Tabitha.”
For leaving their partnership ahead of time? “You don’t owe me any apologies, Johnny.” She had to assure him of that much. “You’ve been...a godsend and...”
She was not going to cry. She’d found Jackson. She just had to believe that. The rest, getting her son home—that work would be small in comparison. And the result immense. Beyond important. She could...
“Where did you land?” she asked him.
If he’d resumed his old life early, if he was even thinking about it, she had to support him. So she would. As soon as he told her what she was supporting.
“I didn’t land. I circled the airport in Mesa where we usually land and I turned around and came back. There’s a golf course there I like. I’d thought about playing a round, but decided against it.”
She didn’t react for a second. He had a jet. Could fly it. Had flown to Arizona and back. But before he’d left, he’d texted to tell her he wouldn’t be home.
She glanced at her phone again. Had he been coming back at all? The message said he wasn’t sure when...
“I’m said I’m sorry. I... Dammit, Tabitha, I sent that text this morning. Why are you only looking at it now?”
She bristled at his tone of voice. As though it was her fault, somehow, that she was feeling like crap. It was, of course. She’d had no business starting to...want him as a permanent part of her life. To picture him playing with Jackson sometime. Maybe coming to one of his games in the future. To think about calling him now and then just to say hello.
As friends only. She wasn’t so far gone as to think there’d be more. She’d never be happy in his world.
No one in her circle randomly called guys who owned jets just to say hello. If ever she’d needed the reminder that her life and Johnny’s real life didn’t coincide, that moment was it. Burning up with humiliation, she said, “The text only showed up a couple of minutes ago.”
Pulling his hand from his pocket, he threw it in the air. “How could that be? I sent it hours ago!”
So now it was the text’s fault?
“I...don’t always get my texts right away in the hospital. And I put my phone on data-saver mode last night because I got a notice from the phone company that I’ve almost used up my plan’s allotted amount for the month. It connects to my wi-fi when I’m at home. With all the stuff I did while we were in San Diego last week, the things I looked up and the research and—” When she heard herself sounding like she was whining, she stopped. Just shut right up.
He flew off on a whim, and she had to use data-saver.
He ran his hand through his hair and then slid it back into his pocket. Was the barbecue getting cold? They should probably go eat. She stared at him.
He stared back. There were clearly things he wasn’t telling her. If she forced the issue, would she lose him sooner?
“Were you planning to be back in time to head out in the morning?”
“I didn’t know.”
Biting her lower lip, she nodded. So she was right...he was already starting to pull away. To return to his real life.
She couldn’t blame him. As his friend, as someone who truly cared about him, she had to encourage him. The best part of her was glad that he was healed to the point of hearing his life calling to him.
“And now? Are you still planning to go to San Diego in the morning?”
“Absolutely.” His gaze didn’t waver as he added, “I’m not going to leave you in the lurch.”
Something he’d decided that day? At the moment, she wasn’t going to question him about it. But she would later. Sometime that week they’d have the conversation. And she’d find a way to let him go.
She nodded, took a step toward him, toward the door, to move down the hall and back out to the room they’d shared the previous two nights—her kitchen. “Is dinner ready?”
