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“I guess so.”
He sighed, tilting his head back and taking in the ceiling to the sound of “Summertime” before the frown cleared from his eyes and he leveled his face back at me. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay, we can make this work.”
The grip on my chest loosened as his face broke into a smile.
“Really?” I asked.
“Really.” He covered my hand with his. “The company is putting me up in a condo for the first two months, but that should give us plenty of time to find a place. That way, if you don’t want to move down with me right away, we can ease into it.”
I pulled my hand away. “Wait, what?”
“Did you want to do a long-distance thing?” His face crumpled. “How does that change anything?”
“No.” The rhythmic bass set my teeth on edge and the low trill of the saxophone made it hard to hear. I leaned closer. “I thought you’d move to Franklin Notch. With me.”
He pulled back. “Franklin Notch? What am I supposed to do in Franklin Notch?”
He had a point. “Keep your old job? Commute?”
“Franklin Notch is literally the northernmost point of myformerregion.” He emphasized. “And you know I want to work my way up. What part of staying in New Hampshire helps my career?”
I winced.
He dropped his voice, leaning in. “I know it’s your hometown, but doesn’t it make more sense for you to move with me? You’d be just an hour from New York City, close to Boston. You’d have more opportunities, more networking, more resources. What do you have in Franklin Notch?”
My friends? My past? My entire life? I’d flirted with moving over the years, but never seriously. I couldn’t picture myself anywhere besides Franklin Notch. Not permanently, anyway.
“But what about the future?”
“What about it?” The band picked up, and Chase raised his voice with it. “Jesus, can we step outside? I can barely think.”
We abandoned the champagne for the silence of the street. The biting chill in the air barely affected me and I exhaled a cloud of frost.
Chase ran his fingers through his hair, mussing the gel, his blue eyes wild. “You want this to work? I do, too. But I can’t torpedo my career when it took you eighteen months to decide you even wanted to date me.”
He laid the truth out inelegantly. Harsh enough for me to flinch. He had a point.
“I’m not asking you to ‘torpedo’ your career. I’m asking for a little more time. Maybe consider moving to Franklin Notch for a bit before we pack up and move halfway down the coast.”
He pursed his lips together, forehead wrinkling. “Move to Franklin Notch? Or move in with you?”
“To Franklin Notch?”
The wrong answer. Chase wanted to hear that he’d move in with me. And I should have been able to say as much, standing in front of him, asking him to give up a promotion. But the words wouldn’t come out.
He nodded. “So, you’re not really offering a commitment, are you, Thea?”
“I want to spend more time with you and see where this goes.”
He sighed, exhaling cold air that hung in the light of a streetlamp. “This isn’t going to work.”
I shook my head. “We can make it work. I didn’t expect you to have to move. Just, let’s think about this.”
The edge of his lips jerked up, a wry smile. “I like you, Thea. Truly. In another place, this might have worked, but I don’t think you really want to be with me.”
