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She shook her head. “I’ve got it.”
His gaze searched hers. “Maybe we should talk. You know…about us.”
Again she shook her head. “We’ve already said everything we need to say.”
“What if I was to turn down the job and stay here?”
It was what she so desperately wanted to hear, but she knew the remedy to their situation wasn’t that easy. “And what would you do then? Go back to your family’s business and continue to do the same thing?”
A flicker of a frown came over his face. “I can make it work.”
She knew he was lying to himself and her. And though it touched her that he was willing to even consider this scenario, she knew it was untenable. Eventually, he would come to resent her for forcing him to give up an amazing job and be stuck in a position in his family’s business that he’d outgrown. She couldn’t let that happen. She didn’t want to make him miserable.
“Go start your new job.” She struggled to keep the emotion from her voice. “You’ll do great.”
“But…”
“Please just go.” She didn’t know how long she could hold out if he were to keep talking.
He exhaled a resigned sigh. He turned and walked away. When she closed the door, she leaned back against it and closed her eyes. That had been one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do, but it was the right thing to do for Kent.
Gathering herself, she straightened. She headed for the kitchen counter. She grabbed her partially charged phone and moved to the couch. She sat down next to Oreo. When she ran her hand over his back, he woke up. He immediately crawled onto her lap and went to sleep.
She wished she could sit there the rest of the evening and hold him. And yet she knew what she had to do next. She lifted her phone and began to dial.
Chapter Twenty
Hewasn’treadytogo home.
Kent kept walking. He was upset with the way Sara had so readily dismissed him. They had things to discuss. In truth, he wasn’t sure who he was more upset with—her for acting like what they’d shared was so easily dismissed or himself for falling for her. It was the exact thing he told himself he wasn’t going to do.
Right now, he should be on top of the world. He’d just landed a high-paying job with benefits. It would place him on the career ladder where he could keep climbing and challenging himself. And now Sara had stumbled into his life and had him rethinking everything.
If he went home now, he knew he’d do nothing more than pace around his apartment. He needed something to take his mind off his problems.
He reached for his phone and pulled up his brother Liam’s number. The phone rang once and then twice. “Hey, bro, what’s wrong?”
“Why does there have to be something wrong for me to call you?” Kent continued walking with no particular destination in mind.
“There doesn’t. It’s just that I figured you’d be busy with Sara. Seems like you two are spending all of your time together these days. Even Mom and Dad have noticed.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” And then he realized his brother might have his three-year-old son this weekend. “Do you have Tate?”
“No. He’s with his mother. But I’ll have him for the rest of the summer because she’s off to Chile.”
“Chile? What’s she going to do there?”
“What she loves most in life—skiing.”
“In July?”
“Yep. It’s called Valle…something or other. It’s her first visit there, and she’s all excited about it. I’m looking forward to having Tate.”
“Don’t forget to schedule in some Uncle Kent time.”
“I won’t. So what’s bothering you tonight?”
“Why do you think something is bothering me?”
