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“Why would you do that?”
“So she would leave.”
“I still don’t understand. Where is she going?”
“She feels trapped here. All this time, having to take care of her family. She got her degree, her family is doing well, so she’s ready to head out on her own adventure.”
Austin leaned back on the couch and his brows relaxed. “Okay. Let’s say that’s true. What does that have to do with you getting or not getting back together with Lindsay?”
“Lindsay wanted me back.”
“You don’t seem happy about that.”
“I’m not. I don’t love Lindsay. I’m not getting back together with her.”
“So then why aren’t you and Erin together?”
Jake spun around. It was like he was talking in circles. “Let me make this simple. Erin needed to think I was getting back together with Lindsay so she wouldn’t feel obligated to stay here with me.”
Austin’s eyes widened. “Ah, I get it now. You’re trying to play the white knight, doing the noble thing for Erin.”
Jake raised his hands above his head. “Hallelujah. He’s seen the light.”
“You’re an idiot.”
Jake lowered his hands and looked to his friend. Surely he hadn’t heard Austin right. This was probably the first smart thing he’d done in his life.
“You’re an idiot,” Austin repeated.
Jake sank into the recliner in front of the fireplace. “Why do you say that?”
“Why didn’t you just talk to Erin? Ask her how she feels. Tell her how you feel.”
That was the crux of it. He’d planned on talking about a future with Erin after Lindsay came to town, but then he’d found her resignation letter and everything changed. He’d done this for Erin. “I didn’t want her to feel obligated to stay with me. I didn’t want to get five or ten years down the road and wonder if she regretted staying with me. I want her to pursue her dreams.”
“You didn’t trust her enough to tell her how you feel and let her make an honest decision about her life? About your life? About your life together?”
He scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “I guess I didn’t look at it that way.”
“Like I said… You’re an idiot.”
Austin was right. Jake had done what he thought was right for Erin but he didn’t actually know for sure that would make her happy. “I guess I am. But I don’t know what to do. How can I ask her to stay here with me, to build a life with me, when I’d always question if she’s looking to the horizon and hoping for something else?”
“I guess you won’t know if you don’t talk to her, will you?”
Austin stood and placed his hand on Jake’s shoulder. A look passed between them, then Austin stepped away and walked out the back door.
Jake sank back into the chair and dropped his head into his hands. What had he done? And more importantly, what was he going to do to fix it?
* * *
Jake sat in his truck, parked along the curb several houses down from Erin’s house. He stared at the closed door, willing it to open. To catch just a glimpse of Erin. He had to see for himself that she hadn’t left. That she was okay.
The front door opened and he slumped down in his seat. Erin walked straight to her car, her shoulders hunched, her gaze fixed on her feet. She climbed in and backed out of her driveway, never seeing Jake parked down the street.
Why was she still here? And why didn’t she look happy? He’d given her the opportunity to reach out and grab everything she wanted out of life. She just had to take the chance. But she looked as unhappy as he’d ever seen her… and she was still here.
Maybe he’d have a chance to fix this after all.
