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She sighs dreamily. “He’s the real deal, Tillie. I like everything about him, and he really likes me. His parents are super nice too.”
“But…” Because I’m sensing a really big “but.”
“But,” she drawls, her mouth turning downward. “He wants to move back home. He’s looking for a teaching job for the upcoming year.”
I nearly spill my wine as I bolt upright. “What? Are you considering it?” The thought of Ann Marie moving away is,well… terrifying. We’ve been friends our entire lives and have only been apart while we were away at college.
She stares up at me, and I see the guilt there, but she tries to downplay the situation. “No, of course not. I mean, he’s not asked me to. Not officially, anyway. We’ve only been seeing each other a few weeks.”
“What do you mean, ‘not officially’?”
“We might have discussed me moving there hypothetically,” she admits.
“I don’t know what that means.” I gulp my wine.
Ann Marie sits up and angles toward me again. “It’s just… it’s kind of moving fast. We really like each other. Like a lot, a lot. My parents love him, and his parents love me, and I can see a future with him.”
“But it’s only been a few weeks,” I say.
I expect her to argue a dozen different reasons why she knows he’s the one, but instead she cocks an eyebrow at me. “You’re seriously going to lecture me on the concept of falling fast for a person when that’s exactly what you’re doing with Coen?”
I sputter. “I most certainly am not. That’s ridiculous.”
Her brow arches higher as she purses her lips.
“Okay, fine… yes, I really like Coen. And it happened fast, too, but the difference is he doesn’t feel the same about me, and we have an expiration date. I’m not going to be leaving my bestie to follow him somewhere.”
“Of course not.” She smirks. “You guys live right next door to each other.”
“Totally beside the point,” I mutter irritably, sinking back into the couch in a pout.
She studies me thoughtfully. “You’d really be upset if I left?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course, I’d be upset. I love you and I’d miss you. But I’d also be upset—more than upset—if you didn’t follow your heart, and if he’s the one, you have to go.”
“It’s only like a four-hour drive,” she points out.
Little solace, but I hold that thought. “Here I was about to ask if I could move in with you and be your roomie.”
She frowns and sips her wine. “Why would you want to do that?”
I look around the living room. “I’m going to look for a different piece of property, but I have to sell this place first. Hopefully, I can get my money back out of it to put down on a new place. So I thought I might crash with you for a bit.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She sets her wineglass on the table and holds both palms out. “Just whoa the fuck down. Sell this place? But why? You just bought it.”
“I know.” I study the pale liquid bubbling in my glass.
“But why?” she demands again when I don’t answer.
I lift my gaze to meet hers. “The easement. I need the trees gone, but Coen wants them to stay, so—”
“Fuck Coen,” she snaps angrily. “You cannot let him ruin your dreams. You bought this property for a very specific purpose.”
“He’s not ruining my dreams. This is my choice. He’s never even mentioned it to me or tried to persuade me otherwise. And… he had a dream when he bought his property too. I’m not sure my dream is as important as his.”
Ann Marie scoffs. “What makes his dream bigger or better than yours? You’re doing this to pursue a lifelong passion and to honor your parents. There’s no way his dreams are more important.”
Maybe not, but they’re very important to him right now. Until he decides how to push past his guilt, he needs the securityhe sought here away from everything. “He’s been through a lot,” I say.
