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“Noah, you’re my best friend. I love you, you know that. But I don’t want to marry you because it’s not fair to you. And because it would be too much of a burden.”
“So, it’s all because of how you think it affects me? It has nothing to do with hating the idea of being married to me? Or because you’d be embarrassed to introduce me as your husband?”
“Of course not,” she said, surprised he’d even think that. “I’d be proud to call you that. But we’re friends. We’re not in a relationship. It’s...weird.”
“Lots of people get married in name only.”
“Is that the marriage you’ve always envisioned for yourself? A fake one?”
“Is this the life you’ve always envisioned for yourself? In a job with no potential for growth, while your dream of improving childhood nutrition passes you by?”
“I hate it when you do that.”
He stilled. “Do what?”
“Answer a question with a question.”
“Well,” he said with a shrug. “This is about you, not me.”
“It’s about both of us!”
“It’s really not.” He stood and walked around his desk, then sat in the chair beside her. He took her free hand, and she dropped her eyes to his large warm fingers encompassing hers. A tingling sensation traveled up her arm. “My mind is made up. I want to do this for you. You just have to let me.”
She stared at their hands for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his face. His ice-blue gaze was concentrated, but gentle. He pulled the corner of his lower lip between white teeth, waiting.
His desk phone rang, the tone piercing through the air. Noah released her hand and leaned over to look at the caller ID. “I need to get that.”
Mia leapt to her feet. “Sure. We’ll talk later.” She went for the door.
“Mia.”
She stopped with her fingers on the handle and kept her back to him.
“Do one thing for me.” The phone kept ringing.
“What is it?” Her voice wavered like it always did when she was uneasy.
She rarely felt that way around Noah.
“Do me a favor and consider both options. One, be my wife for a little while so you can start your career as Colorado’s best registered dietician. Two, don’t be my wife and stay in a job you think is just okay, forever. It’s your choice.” He paused for a second. “You always say you value my opinion, and that’s why you tell me everything. So here it is: if I were you, I’d think about the one I’d regret less, and pick that one.”
4
Mia avoided him for the rest of the day. Which was a feat in and of itself, since they worked mere feet from each other. But somehow she managed, and Noah didn’t find himself near her again until that evening at dinner.
Noah, Mia, Claire, and Graham were at Claire’s favorite pub, seated in a leather booth laughing over beers. Well, everyone else was... Noah laughed over water.
His tongue loosened way too much when he drank, so he kept himself on a pretty short leash when he knew Mia would be there.
It felt like old times when the four of them were together. With their schedules, it didn’t happen as often as they’d like. Claire’s and Graham’s especially—she was a nurse and he was a firefighter—and Noah had never been able to keep their shifts straight. But maybe once a month they made it work, and it was like college all over again.
Noah, Mia, and Claire kept their neighborhood gang intact in college, but branched out as they met new people. Graham was a little older and had been a friend of Nathan’s, but Noah had gotten to know him well on climbing trips he took with his brother. When Nathan died, Graham and Noah’s shared grief brought their friendship closer, and Mia and Claire were happy to absorb him into their group.
Claire set down her bottle with gusto and clapped her hands, her blond curls bouncing with the movement. “So,” she began. “This dinner actually worked out really well, because I’ve got something I want to talk to you guys about.”
Graham shook his head. “I’m not into foursomes.”
Claire didn’t even spare him a glance. “I watched that episode ofFriendslast night where they all set up their ‘backups.’ I thought about it all day, and I decided we should do that.”
