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“Of course, my lady doc.”
And at the end of breakfast, by the time she got into her car, she wasn’t sure if the breakfast had made things better, or a little bit worse.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“SOHOWAREthings with the fiancé?”
He was surprised he’d seen Charity without Byron at all, let alone yesterday for breakfast and today.
“Oh, good,” she said. She had come out to the ranch to do a checkup on two new horses that had come in.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Yes. He’s very... I dunno. He’s very easy. Though... I think he might have some concerns about you.”
Lachlan’s brows shot up. “Me?” Not because he couldn’t understand why a man wouldn’t want another man to be extremely close to his fiancée, just because it was something that he and Charity had never touched on or acknowledged. They had always treated each other like friends of the same gender, his own reaction to her the past few days notwithstanding. They had never really treated each other differently. So they would never have talked about a significant other being bothered by the other’s presence. Of course, she’d only had Byron, and he never had anyone.
“He knows we’ve been friends forever.”
“Yes. But... I don’t know. Not concerns, really, it’s... I don’t know. He seemed maybe like he was jealous of you at one point when we were talking.”
“Of me?”
“He wants me to move to Virginia with him.”
“Hewhat?”
Move to Virginia. His Charity, leaving him. Moving to Virginia.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No. I’m not. I’m not kidding. I...”
“Charity,” he said. “You’ve lived here your whole life. Why should you leave this place? You love it. It’s your home.”
“Yeah, I know. But also, you’re right. I have lived here my whole life. And it’s part of the problem with getting taken seriously and...all of it. Maybe it would be easier... What if it was easier if I just left?”
“You can’t leave.” He was in absolute disbelief. Complete and total.
“I might have to,” she said. “Because that’s what you do when you decide you’re going to make a life with somebody. You compromise.”
“What exactly is he compromising? Because as far as I can tell, he’s going to get you to move where he wants you to. He’s staying at a room across the street because of his personal feelings on the matter of cohabitation...”
“Why do you care so much? You’re going to move on. Make a different life. You know things are going to change. It’s inevitable.”
“Yeah. I knew that it was inevitable things would change because you were going to marry the guy. I didn’t know you were going to move across the country.”
He felt...betrayed. She was an integral part of his life. An integral part of his...his happiness. His sanity. She had been for a very long time. From the time he had been a teenage boy, cut and bleeding in a forest, Charity had been the bright spot. His angel. Something rare and beautiful and so far above anything or anyone. And she was going to leave him.
Just like that.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving me.”
“I’m not leavingyou, Lachlan. I’m leaving Oregon. And still, only maybe.”
She was leavinghim. She could call it whatever she wanted, but she was leaving him.
“I don’t even know for sure if it’s happening,” she said. “So settle down. This week I’m trying to show him that it might be all right if we stay here. I’m just letting you know that I’m considering it. That I’m really thinking about whether or not it might be a good idea. Practically. Given my current situation.”
