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“No, this evening has ruined apples for me.”
“Ruined them? I started liking them more. From now on when I eat one, I’m going to think of you. Although, I might have to stop Lucas from saying the phrase, ‘How about them apples?’ I’m already getting tired of it.”
Lucas had said the phrase more than once while they did the dishes.
Olivia rubbed her forehead. “You and Lucas aren’t allowed into my mother’s house. She has that painting hanging in her living room. I know you won’t behave around it.”
“Do you think she’d sell it to me?”
She smacked his chest. “Don’t even ask her.” But then Olivia couldn’t help but laugh herself. This was what it was like to have a big family, a fun one, and she’d loved being part of it.
Carson pulled her to him and kissed her. His lips still tasted of the apple pie. From now on, it would be the taste of happiness.
* * *
The restof the holiday weekend went smoothly. Jennifer didn’t say anything else that implicated Olivia or horrified Mrs. Clark. The brothers moved on to other subjects to joke about. Mrs. Clark was so nice to Olivia that Olivia started to believe Carson about his mother liking her. Mrs. Clark gave Olivia cooking advice and swatted Carson for swearing around her. True acceptance. She was still overly formal and polite while talking to Jennifer.
The only problem with the weekend was that it was too short. All too soon, Monday evening came, and Carson was dropping her off on her doorstep to say goodbye.
She held onto his hand, wishing she didn’t have to let go.
“Have you thought about what I said?” he asked.
“When?” He’d said a lot of things over the weekend.
“About moving to Denver. Are you going to?”
He expected her to have already made that decision? “I don’t know. I want to be with you but…” The sentence trailed off. She’d given him her reasons for staying in Lark Springs on Friday, and he hadn’t liked them.
“But?” Frustration made his word tight. He wasn’t trying to see things from her perspective. “Your adult, capable family needs you too much?”
“You don’t even know how long you’ll be in Denver,” she pointed out. “You could have another injury next week, and the Broncos could drop you. If I break my contract with the school, I’ve burned my bridges. They won’t take me back.” In some ways, that was her greatest fear—that if she moved, he would end up breaking up with her, and she wouldn’t be able to retreat back to the safety of home to recover. “Couldn’t we just do long-distance for the next few months, and you could come back here when the season ends? The people in Lark Springs love you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Not just the people in this town. Her. She loved him. Even if she hadn’t specifically told him, her actions had been shouting it since June. Couldn’t he tell? Didn’t she merit a little sacrifice on his part?
“Of course it means something to me,” he said. “But I’m not going to let it define my future. I’m not going to let it keep me here.”
The sacrifice would be all on her part, then. The sacrifice and the risk. “I’ll think about it more,” she said.
At that moment, she wanted him to convince her, to assure her she wouldn’t regret moving. She wanted him to kiss her until she agreed to pack her bags.
Instead, he glanced at his watch and sighed. “I’d better go or I’ll miss my flight. I’ve been here too long already.”
For the rest of the night, she wondered if that sentence had more than one meaning.
24
Over the next week, Olivia went back and forth, wondering if Carson was being unreasonable or whether she was. They’d only been together for three months, and he was asking her to pick up and leave friends, family, job, home—everything behind.
Then again, he had his dream job, and it paid really well. If one of them had to make career sacrifices, she should be the one to move.
Making the decision would be so much easier if he’d told her he loved her, that he pictured the two of them together permanently. It was one thing to cut ties for a potential husband, cutting them for a possibly temporary boyfriend was something else. A temporary boyfriend was just one step above a fling.
Instead of reassuring her of his feelings, over the next week, every time she talked to Carson on the phone, he seemed distant, strained. Part of her wanted to say, “See, I was right not to move to Denver. You’re already getting tired of me.” Saying that would’ve been peevish, but she worried it was the truth.
For the Broncos’ first game of the season, the team was playing the San Francisco 49ers. Riley and Annie decided they shouldn’t make Olivia watch the game alone so planned a roommate football-watching party. Riley had gone to a few of these events while she dated Lucas, so she gave them instructions to make it authentic.
They got pizza, chips, soda, and because they were also trying to be healthy: salad, orange wedges, and Brussels sprouts cooked with balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, and crusted in bread crumbs. That was Annie’s contribution. She’d been watching cooking shows and insisted on making the dish, despite Riley’s insistence that real game-watching parties didn’t have fancy Brussels sprouts.
