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They’d probably put together a lucrative package, including stocks.
“Right. You have to take it.” God save me, I was going to miss him so much. These last few weeks had been some of the best of my life, despite the paparazzi and all the memories of my mother.
He looked up from the pan to gaze right at me. “I don’t, actually.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m a weird guy. You know that, right?”
“You’re not weird. You’re extremely intelligent,” I said. “Which makes you see things slightly differently, maybe?”
He laughed. “That’s a nice way to put it.”
I waited to see what he would say next.Prepare yourself for the worst.He would take the job and we would grow apart. I’d be filming somewhere, and he’d be tied to his desk.
“If I told you my basis for not taking it, you might change your mind about my strangeness.” He came around the island and turned the stool so I faced him. “Do you want to know my number one reason for saying no?”
“I can’t imagine,” I said, breathing in the scent of him.
“You. You’re the reason. I want to say yes to you, Annie Armstrong. I know we were apart for over two decades, but it feels like we’ve been together forever. I don’t want to lose you. If you say the word, I’ll follow you around the world. I’ll be the man who carries your luggage and fights off photographers and brings the baby to set so you can see her.”
“Baby?” I asked, squeaking. “We have a baby?”
“More than one.” He grinned, playing with a lock of my hair. “Annie, let me be the one you count on. Marry me. Let’s make a family together.”
“Where would we live?”
“Part time here. Part time wherever you needed to be for your work,” Atticus said. “Never more than a week apart.”
“You have this all figured out?”
“Not totally. All I know is that I don’t want this time to end, and I’ll do pretty much anything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
What was he saying? This was impossible. We’d been back in each other’s life for such a short time. Marriage? All too much.Too much. A tightness in my throat suddenly made it hard to breathe. I had to tell him the truth. I wasn’t ready. I might never be ready. My career had to come first. If not, then what had I been working toward all these years just to throw it away to live in Montana? It was an hour to the nearest airport. There were no Pilates classes in town. Or shopping. Nothing, really.
Except Atticus.
This was not my home. He was not my home.
“It’s too soon to make these kinds of decisions,” I blurted out.
For a moment I thought he would argue with me. Instead, he looked down at my lap and when his gaze returned to mine, his mask had resumed its position.
“You’re right. Way too soon. We’ve had two weeks together. I’m an idiot.” He smiled, but his eyes remained dull. “Now, eat your breakfast. I’m going to take a shower, and then we can figure out what we want to do for the rest of the day. Forget I said anything.”
With that, he charged out of the kitchen. Scout lifted her head from her basket and looked at me, then the doorway. She got up and padded after her master, leaving me by myself with a plate of pancakes.
Alone.That’s how I should be. It was all better this way.
I had to go home. The longer I stayed the harder this was going to be. He’d gone down a path, and there would be no coming back from it—no pretending he hadn’t said what he said. His intentions were clear. Misguided but clear. Marriage? To me? After a few weeks? Nothing could be more ridiculous.
Atticus might think he could handle being the husband of a celebrity, but he was wrong. He was a family man. One who belonged here in Montana. Just as I belonged in LA.
I was right to go. We were better off apart. I wouldn't come back to Bluefern again. Closure. That’s what I’d needed and got. Atticus was not the prize at the end. He was just a boy I used to love.
16
ATTICUS
