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“Why do you ask?”
“For starters, you won’t meet my eyes.”
She met his eyes just to show him she could. He was looking at her with concern. She either wanted to kiss him or tell him he had no right to look at her that way when he was about to break her heart.
His eyebrows drew together. “What’s wrong? Why are you so tense?”
She was sitting stock straight without realizing it. She forced her shoulders to relax and drew in a breath. “I’ve never been good at suspense. If you’re going to break up with me, then you might as well get it over with.”
He jolted in surprise and he let go of her hand. “Break up with you? Where did that come from him?”
Despite her resolve to stay strong, she felt her throat restricting. “I already know you don’t want a long-distance relationship. I accidentally overheard your mother say so.” Olivia’s voice sounded flat and tinny to her own ears. “Now that you’re playing football again, we can’t have anything else.”
He nodded with understanding. “You’re right. I don’t want a long-distance relationship, and the last month has convinced me of that even more. But I didn’t plan on breaking up with you. I planned on asking you to move to Denver. You can find a teaching position there, can’t you?”
Wait. What was that? She cocked her head, unsure she’d heard right. She had to backtrack and halt a stream of unsaid words on her tongue. “You want me to go to Denver?” she finally managed. That was so much better than wanting to end things.
“I know we haven’t been dating long and this is a big step. I’m not asking you to move in with me, just to be closer. I can help with your rent if that’s a problem.”
“I…” She was torn between happiness because he still wanted to be with her and frustration because she couldn’t do what he asked. Her home was here. Her family, her friends, her job, her whole life. “I’m under contract with Lark Springs High to teach. I can’t move.”
“They can find a replacement for you more easily than I can.”
Technically untrue. Carson could find a replacement for her tomorrow. She’d seen the groupies in the stands at the preseason games. One of them had waved a sign from the stands declaring: Welcome home number 61! Denver hearts you.
Olivia held out her hands to him as if to show the difficulty of what he asked. “My family needs me.”
Carson shook his head. “They’re adults. They can take care of themselves.”
He clearly had an overly optimistic view of her family. “It’s not that simple.” For proof, she added, “In June, I had to make sure my mother went to her doctor’s appointment and picked up her prescriptions. My father wouldn’t file his taxes if I didn’t do them for him.”
Carson was unmoved. “Maybe they need to stop depending on you so much. You’re allowed to have your own life.”
And it would be nice if she could. Nice, but never the case. “If I hadn’t been around, Matt would be in jail right now.”
Carson lifted his hands in frustration. “I used to wonder why you stayed in Lark Springs. Now I’m wondering how to pry you away from the place. Don’t you want more out of life?”
Small-town life wasn’t enough? Her hand flew to her chest. “What do you have against Lark Springs? Your parents and brother live here. The entire town idolizes you, and you’re too good for the place?”
He sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying.” He gestured to the room “You’re an artist living in a town where there isn’t an artist community. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“I guess my family has always been more important. I can’t just walk away from my mother and brother like my father did.”
Carson sighed a second time, this time with more exasperation. “You’re not abandoning your family. You’re leaving the nest. That’s what adults are supposed to do.”
“Ihaveleft the nest. I moved to this apartment.” Not necessarily a more spacious place, but a different one.
He rolled his eyes. “You moved ten minutes away. Leaving the nest doesn’t count if you still live on the same branch.”
She couldn’t argue with him about that, and she couldn’t convince him that Lark Springs was a good city to live in, even if it wasn’t cosmopolitan.
He took her hand in his again. “I don’t want to fight with you. Will you just think about what I’m saying?”
Definitely. Relentlessly. She already was.
Then he leaned over and kissed her, and she stopped thinking altogether.
* * *
