Page 95 of Wish You Would

I shrug. “I’m trying to get a mortgage so I can buy the house. I just left the bank. I’ll know in a couple of days if I qualify or not.”

“Wow. You’ve got that kinda money for a deposit?”

“No, but I’m figuring it out,” I answer as a waitress reaches our table. She hands me a beer before taking our order.

Jake takes a swig of his beer then wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Where’s Briar in all this?”

He knows. I can tell by the look on Jake’s face that he already knows she’s moving out.

“Her apartment is ready at the end of the week. She’s moving out.”

“I know. I talked to her.”

“You talked to her about this? When?”

“I ran into her. She was coming home from a walk after dinner. It was the third time this week I saw her coming home from a walk alone.”

I open my mouth to try and explain what’s been going on, but he beats me to it. “Are you breaking up with her?”

“Fuck, no.” I shove my fingers through my hair. “That’s not what I’m doing. I would never break up with her. I could never—”

“Then why is she moving out?”

“Because she wants to. Her place is ready, and she loves it. You should have seen her face when she did the walk through. Staying with me was a temporary solution, she never planned to stay forever.”

He huffs out what sounds like a laugh. “I don’t care how nice the place is. There’s no way on this earth that she’d rather live there alone than with you. Did you have a conversation with her? Did you bother to ask her if she’d like to stay?”

I don’t answer right away, instead distracting myself by peeling the corner of the label on my beer bottle.

His head blows back like I’ve physically hit him. “You didn’t ask her.”

“No.” That is the only answer I’ve got for him. I feel like a fucking idiot. “I didn’t think she—”

“Don’t say it isn’t what she wanted,” Jake cuts me off. “You have no idea what she wanted because you didn’t fucking ask her. She shouldn’t have to ask you to let her stay.It’s your house and if you want her to live with you then you need to ask her. That’s on you, Holdey.”

“Stay where? I don’t even know whereI’mgoing to live if I can’t get this loan.”

“If I was betting man, I’d say she’d rather weather the storm with you and figure it out together than live on her own with a new baby.Yourbaby.”

“I haven’t told her.”

“That you’ve been given notice to move?”

“Yeah.”

Jake winces. “As someone who knows a lot about keeping secrets, I think you’re making a huge mistake. You need to be honest with her. Explain to her what’s going on with your landlord. Tell her you’ve had a meeting with the bank. Admit that you’re being a total jackass.”

I heave out a breath. “Appreciate that.”

He raises one brow. “From what I’ve seen, you are. Before last week, there wasn’t a second you weren’t together. Now suddenly, you’re not around and you’re encouraging her to move out of your house. If this is how you show her you love her, you’re failing miserably.”

I lean my elbows on the table, pressing my fingers into my temples. Jake is right. I fucked up. I should have asked her to stay.

I was so focused on figuring out a way to stay on Haven Harbor and so busy feeling sorry for myself that I was going to lose Briar when she moved out that I’d pushed her away without realizing it.

Briar is upset, and rightfully so.

If I made her feel like she wasn’t wanted, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Briar is my forever and losing her is not an option.

---