Page 50 of Make Her Mine

“I’ve been thinking,” Zach says.

“Uh oh.”

“I’m not surprised about you and Jefferson.”

I sigh. It seems that Jefferson and I are the only ones who are surprised. That’s annoying.

Even Jefferson’s very practical father isn’t surprised. In fact, Mason Riley thinks we should just date for real. Even if it’s only for a week.

Good lord, if someone told me I’m in some kind of alternate reality right now, I’d believe them.

“Okay,” I tell Zach. I am not really sure why he thinks I need to know this.

“I mean, you’ve known him forever. He’s a good guy. Successful, for Sapphire Falls,” Zach goes on.

Oh, got it. I see exactly where Zach is going with this.

I turn to face him fully. “Please, tell me everything you think about everything.”

“Don’t be like that,” he says. “I just want to lay this out for you. Because no one else will.”

I take another sip of my drink. “Lay out what?”

“You have choices, Harlow. I know it probably doesn’t feel that way. People in this town see the world a little differently. You’ve grown up here. You’re still here. So it makes sense that you would gravitate toward the guy who is also still here. I mean it really does make sense, on paper, to everyone here, that you would end up together.”

I sip again then swallow. Then I set my glass on the bar. “So what you’re saying is that Jefferson and I are together because we ran out of options. It was just a process of elimination, right? Everyone else left. You left. So what else would I possibly do?”

Zach just studies me for a moment. He nods. “I wouldn’t have put it exactly like that. But yes. Jefferson is definitely your best option. Here.”

“Here. In my hometown. The place I love. The town that’s full of people that I love. The place where I do a job that I love.”

“You can have more.”

I take a deep breath.

This should be funny. Or at least seem ironic. A few hours ago I would have thought Zach and Jefferson have this in common. I would have believed that they both look down on Sapphire Falls, and feel the people who stay here are unimaginative, lazy, or stuck in a rut.

But… Jefferson and I talked.

Okay, we fought. Argued. Whatever.

But I’ve been replaying our conversation ever since I stormed out of his house and…I believe him. I believe that he loves Sapphire Falls. That he chose to come back and make his life here. He could have gone anywhere. He’s charming and intelligent and talented. He was also a star in Minnesota. So it was a step “down” for Nebraska fans. That doesn’t mean other people see it that way. At all. He could have gone anywhere to coach and teach.

He chose to come home.

That means something.

And I’m not an idiot—or that much of a bitch—to not admit that.

“I have what I want right here, Zach,” I say, feeling not only irritated with my ex-boyfriend, but a strange camaraderie with Jefferson now that I’ve realized, or admitted, that he’s here because he wants to be. Like me.

I could have left. I’ve never truly considered it, of course, but in my rational brain I know I could have. I could have gotten a job somewhere else. I just don’t want to.

“Harlow, I am through my residency. I have a fantastic position with the practice locked in,” Zach says.

“So you’re going to whisk me away from all of this? Give me a new lease on life? Show me everything I’ve been missing?”

“I’m giving us a second chance. We’ve both grown up. We’re different. I want to try again.”

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