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“Why was he here? Just in town and wanting to say hello?”
I shook my head. “No, he offered me a job.”
That made Shawn sit up a bit. “What kind of a job?”
I felt my entire body sag; suddenly, I felt so damn tired. “The job of a lifetime.”
“Damn,” Shawn said. “Doing what?”
“Working in Ireland at a four-thousand-year-old burial site.”
Shawn’s eyes went wide with shock. “Holy shit, Lucas. What did you tell him?”
“No. I told him no.”
“Why?” Shawn asked with a bewildered look. In the last week or so, he and Kristin had grown closer. According to Shawn, they were taking things slow and hadn’t had sex, but they had done plenty of other things. Hollie thought it was funny they claimed to be moving slow when they were meeting for lunch nearly every day and doing things that might not have been intercourse but would still make a nun blush and ask for forgiveness.
“Did you really ask me that?”
He nodded. “I did. Lucas, for as long as I can remember, that’s all you talked about. Digging in the damn dirt for old shit.”
“And I do that now, here, at home. Near Hollie.”
Shawn leaned back, a knowing look on his face as he slowly nodded. “I get it. You don’t want to leave Hollie.”
“Would you want to leave Kristin right as your relationship was growing? Or right when you were about to ask her to marry you?”
Shawn held up his hands. “Whoa, put the brakes on, dude.”
“I’m talking about me, Shawn. Me! I’m going to be asking Hollie to marry me on Christmas day. I can’t turn around and leave the country for months and expect her to drop her life here and go with me. And I sure as shit don’t want to be away from her.”
“It’s called compromise, Lucas. You don’t want Hollie to give up her life and career, but do think she’d want you to do that for her?”
“It’s different. I have a job I love.”
Shawn leaned forward and rested his forearms on his legs. “You’re telling me that if you weren’t with Hollie, you would still turn this job down?”
“I love my job!”
He tilted his head and stared at me.
Scrubbing my hand down my face, I let out a frustrated groan. “Fine! Fine! I’d probably ask for a leave of absence or something and go.”
“So, the only thing holding you back is…Hollie.”
“Don’t say that. It makes it sound bad.”
He held up his hand in defense. “I’m just shooting you straight here, dude. If you really wanted to do this, you’d think of a way, and if Hollie truly loves you, she’ll let you pursue this job.”
I glanced out the window once more and tried to ignore the sudden ache in the middle of my chest.
The sound of the front door shutting caused me to turn away from the back window I had been staring out of.
“Lucas?” Hollie called out.
“I’m in the back sunroom.”
Hearing her heels click on the floor, I set my beer down and waited for my girl to come into the room. All I wanted to do was hold her.
