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“We think you’d be a natural fit. It would start February first. Of course, your expenses would be covered for the move...”
“Wow.” I blinked. This was sudden and out of nowhere. My head was swimming. “I don’t know what to say…”
“We’ll talk more when you get back. But go celebrate, you’ve earned it, Lucas. I hate to see you leave us, but this is going to be a great move for you.”
I glanced up, and there was Abbie looking back at me, equally shocked.
I shook my head and realized Mr. Crawford was still talking.
“We’ll talk more when you get back next week. We’ll go to lunch and hammer out all the details.”
I swallowed a nervous breath. “Sounds great.”
“See you next Monday.”
I clicked ‘end call’ and looked at Abbie—she wasn’t blinking. She could have been a statue for all I knew.
Our eyes met for one long moment, and it seemed like that snapped her out of the haze.
“Los Angeles...” She came over and washed her hands in the sink, dried them off on a kitchen towel before opening the fridge door and taking out the leftover fruit salad we’d made the night before.
I nodded and wiped the table, getting rid of the sticky beer before it got any worse, then filled the other glass for her. “Yeah...”
“You had no idea?”
She set the plate in front of us on the island counter. She still wasn’t looking at me.
“None. I mean, there’d been talk about some positions opening up in the fall, but nothing after. I figured they’d been filled.” I gave a one-shouldered shrug and picked up my beer. It was the most unexpected thing ever...
Except for me and Abbie.
Abbie looked like she’d seen a ghost. She was pale under her tan.
She pulled the cover off the plate and took a sliced strawberry out.
I reached over and grabbed one for myself.
“When do you leave?”
“I haven’t officially accepted it.”
“But you’re going to. I know you. This is what you’ve always wanted.” She pointed the strawberry at me to punctuate her words.
“Definite dream come true.” All those hours, working through the nights and weekends, were about to pay off, and not that I could ease up now, but I had a new level to shoot for, a whole new set of challenges to go after.
The year was starting off absolutely perfect.
“You’re coming with...”
She froze, the strawberry in her hand stopping millimeters from her mouth. “W-what?”
“I’m not just going to leave you behind.” There was no way. I didn’t want us starting things off trying to make long distance work. It would give us too many excuses. I wanted her with me, I wanted to experience the whole thing, every single moment together.
She hesitated. She looked away from me, setting the strawberry down and reaching for a napkin to wipe her hands with.
“I don’t think I want to go.”
My body stilled.
