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Honey:You should ask Noah.
Despair crashes over me. He must be dating someone else. He’s already moved on, and Honey doesn’t want to be the one to tell me.
I stare at my phone and consider calling her and begging her to tell me, but there’s no way I’ll hold it together if she confirms my worst fear.
And I can’t let her or anyone else know how it’ll destroy me to know Noah has moved on. He should move on. He deserves to be happy.
And maybe I’ll learn to be happy. Once I have the career I’ve always dreamed of, I’ll have to be content.
But being with Noah felt easy. Working at Lovemore Publishing had been easy in a way working at Tenth Avenue isn’t.
I was happy at Lovemore Publishing, and I was beyond happy with Noah. Every day I got to wake up and see him was the best day.
It’s too dangerous, though, to pin my happiness on another person when they can leave so easily.
I lean across the end of the couch and drag my upright bass to me. As I press my sore fingers to the strings, some of my homesickness eases. It was worth every penny it cost to get it here.
With traffic noise as backdrop, I practice the songs I wish I was playing with my sisters.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Noah
“Daisy and I broke up,” I say for the five thousandth time today. “She moved back to New York and I’m staying, because I love Catalpa Creek too much to leave with her.” It was the line Gentry and I had come up with for maximum effect.
The older man with brilliant blue eyes has a different reaction than every other person I’ve said the same thing to today. “Well, that was a stupid thing to do. Daisy Weston is gorgeous. If I was thirty years younger, I’d go to New York and propose to her myself.”
Luckily, no one else at the grand-opening party for the clinic is paying attention because my response rockets out of me. “I’d rather marry someone who chooses me over her career.” Wow, guess I had more anger and hurt built up than I’d realized.
The older man doesn’t flinch. He narrows his eyes and lifts a gnarled finger to wag it at me. “She chose you once, didn’t she? You can’t expect her to choose you every time. Sometimes you have to put her first and show her you’re choosing her. Not because she’s convenient, but because you’d walk over hot coals to be with her.” He walks over to the food table, shaking his head at my idiocy.
I stare after him, dumbfounded. Is he right? Have I ever gone the extra mile for Daisy? Have I told her what she means to me? I didn’t even tell her I’m in love with her.
Yet I expected her to give up her dream for me?
I don’t want to be your friend.The words come back to me and I cringe. Man, I’m such a dick.
“Everything okay over here, Doc?” Gentry asks.
I paste a smile on my face. “The party seems to be going well. You were right about the break up working in my favor. Everyone’s been sympathetic.” Except for that one opinionated old guy. “Mostly.”
“We’ve had ten more people schedule appointments in the last hour. The practice is saved.” She bumps my hip with her own. “So, why do you still look sad?”
“Because I’m an idiot who let myself fall in love with my fake girlfriend.”
Her obvious empathy makes me feel worse somehow.
“But we won’t dwell on that. The party is amazing. We’ve got patients. Business is booming. And I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“I’m glad you say that.” She winces. “My sister is stuck at lacrosse practice and needs me to pick her up. I guess her ride fell through.”
“I’ve got this. Go rescue your sister.”
She pats my shoulder. “Thank you. Daisy’s an idiot for not doing whatever she could to hold on to you.”
“She’s not an idiot.” She’s not, but she’s a woman who puts work first, above everything else that matters in life. I can support her in that goal, I don’t have to be a dick about it, but I can’t be with a woman who can’t prioritize me.
I can’t and I won’t.
