AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s nothing. I’m not considering it.”
She bit her lower lip, lashes fanned her cheeks as she appeared pensive. “If you really weren’t considering it, then you wouldn’t have mentioned it.”
She had him there. The offer was damn compelling, but had many conditions that needed to be met. The idea of uprooting his life was discouraging enough, although the weight of it reduced now that Alex was set with his life. Rick didn’t want to be too far away from family. Since his father passed, he only had Alex left to think of. His brother was a grown man and didn’t need him, but leaving his home didn’t sound as appealing as it did to most single people.
And he wasn’t single anymore, either.
Their relationship was still so new, and at the cusp of themore-than-seriousterritory for him to disregard her thoughts. So here they were.
“I wouldn’t say I’m not interested,” he said, “but it’s a lot of trouble. All the planning; it’ll be insane. I don’t want to deal with that chaos. Plus…”
Her eyes widened and trailed to him, expressing wonders in its depth.
“Plus, I have you,” he said. “I know you definitely don’t want to leave, so it’s off the table.”
“Wow,” she whispered as silence shadowed around them.
“No,” she finally said after a brief pause. “You shouldn’t turn this down. It’s a job offer?—”
“Technically, it’s an offer for an interview?—”
“But it sounds like a good opportunity you shouldn’t pass up. Like you said, it will open doors to meet and work with people who also enjoy your love for nature and their causes.” She took his hands in hers. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Rick. Don’t let it go.”
He frowned. “But what about you? I don’t want to leave here, oryou.”
Her eyes shined like stubborn glitter. “Silly, of course I’ll be going with you.”
Surprised, he shook himself to make sure he was hearing right. Charlie was willing to leave with him?
“What do you mean?” he asked. “You have a lot going on here. Your parents, brother. Your friends. Okay, they can take care of themselves, but most importantly, your business?”
She shook her head. “Things can be arranged. The spa… it’s getting too high maintenance, anyway. And it’s causing me so much stress. I’m thinking I might sell it.”
Sell it?
Nothing was adding up. She’d spoken so passionately about doing what she loved, about her work being one of the most important points of her autonomy. How was she so willing to give it up?
And her people. Hercircle. He wasn’t going to say it out loud,but she was part of a niche that she was accustomed to. How will she fare in another environment where she had no friends? He didn’t want her to be miserable if she couldn’t acclimate. But ultimately, it was still her decision.
“Charlie,” he sighed. “What’s going on? Why are you talking about leaving?”
“It’s not really leaving as much as it is starting something new,” she said. “And I want to be with you.”
“Do you know how stressful moving to another country is? It’s months of planning and getting things off the ground. You’re talking about completely changing your lifestyle. It’s not something small.” Rick noticed the sadness incurring her face the more he spoke. “What’s wrong? It’s not like you to talk so casually about deserting your friends and family. And especially the career you were so amped about.”
Her eyes searched his, then looked away as her shoulders lowered in dismay, submitting to the fact her words weren’t letting up.
“My mother…” she began, voice hitting a pitch. “We had a disagreement…”
I knew it, Rick thought. Charlie wasn’t a flaky person. She had convictions he couldn’t find in a lot of people. For her to talk about giving up had to have been caused by something drastic.
As she went into detail about her visit with her mother, he noticed how hard she tried to keep the tears at bay. His heart fell along with the forlorn pitch of her voice, and a weight as heavy as a boulder fell inside his stomach. He felt his own blood drain when the story headed to its tipping point, where it blew up on him.
He knew things didn’t look good. The meet-the-in-laws night hadn’t gone as swimmingly as they wanted, but he was hoping to avoid the antagonism. In modern times, none of it should hold water anymore. A forbidden romance didn’t make any sense.
“She threatened me, Rick,” Charlie whispered in disbelief. “She used moneyagainstme. I’ve realized now that she’s alwaysbeen doing it. I could have only afforded to go to the schools if it was a school she approved of. Everything from what kind of business I wanted to get into could only be throughherapproval. I guess it’s fair since she’s the one financing it, but I thought this was her way of supporting me as a mother would, not as a weapon to use against me.”
She sniffled and blinked away the moisture in her eyes, and refused the slip of tissue he offered. Rick admired her tenacity. “She’s showing me exactly what I mean to her. Only useful as a puppet, but once I wanted to use my mind, then I’m no longer of importance. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I was ever important in her eyes.”
