Page 75 of Dream a Little Dream

“Wow. So, you’re now planning social outings with your father and mending fences with your brother,” Jonathan said, as we waited in the short line at the library. The new Sarah J. Maas novel was on hold for Jonathan, who was next on the wait list. He’d been counting the moments until he made it to the top.

“It’s weird to hear you refer to them that way.” We stepped forward, two back. “I’m not sure I’ve thought of them in those terms fully.”

“I like to be ahead of all the fads.” He laughed. Because we both knew it wasn’t true. He was a proud nerd, one of the reasons I adored him.

“You could have knocked me over with a feather when Charlie suggested dinner. I was preparing for a lifelong nemesis.”

“I wasn’t. That guy is universally loved in this town for simply being nice and neighborly. I had a feeling he’d come around.”

“Well, that makes one of us.”

His smile dimmed. We stepped forward, second in line, now, to the front desk. “So, I have news.”

“Tell me all of it. With the BeLeaf transition and our new, hot significant others, I feel like I’m falling behind.”

“Well, the headline is that I’m leaving the nest.”

I stared at him, not following the thread but feeling a little uneasy. “I might need some more information.”

“Christian asked me to move to Austin with him, and I said yes.” His eyes went wide, as if to sayCan you believe it?

“Got your book right here,” Darlene said, grabbing a copy from the circulation cart just as my world slipped into an alternate reality, one without Jonathan, my best friend. We’d been inseparable for two decades, and now we were going to follow each other on social media and wonder how things were going? No. I couldn’t accept this.

Jonathan accepted the book in quiet victory, surely feeling the weight of this announcement and its effect on me. “The wait has been torment,” he said politely to Darlene. I waited for him to finish checking out his book and followed him in silence to a nearby reading corner. One of the soft bench seats was open, and we snagged it and the privacy it offered. “I was waiting to tell you until we had a quiet moment.”

“Is this real?” I asked. “You’re honestly leaving?” My voice sounded like a squeak, stripped of all strength and semblance of normalcy.

“It’s real.” He shook his head as if marveling at all of this. He was a goofy kid at peak happiness.

My moment wasn’t going as well. “But you two have only been dating a couple of months. Maybe a little more time should go by before you uproot your whole life. Maybe we could hit pause for a second so I can catch up. Maybe we should scrap this whole idea and rewind the last five minutes.”

“I hear you. Yes, it’s been quick. But these months have changed everything. Christian just gets me in a way no other guy has.” He smiled the silly smile of someone gaga in love. “And he makes me feel like this fucking awesome catch, likehe’sthe lucky one to be withme,which is just unbelievable.”

“Heisthe lucky one,” I said without hesitation. “And what about the periods of time when you’re not feeling your best? Your support system ishere.”

“He’s been great on my more painful days.”

I actually couldn’t argue. Christian seemed to take great care of Jonathan when he wasn’t at his best. They were a great match. I still didn’t understand why they couldn’t be a great matchhere. “Fantastic. All of it. But why the move?”

“He’s been offered a promotion.”

From what I understood, Christian worked in hospitality for Elite Resorts and managed a large beach property twenty miles away.

“It’s too good to turn down. He said he couldn’t imagine leaving me now, not after everything. Plus, I think it would be pretty cool to live in a city.”

“Yeah,” I said, dejected. “Pretty cool.” The truth was, I couldn’t be angry when all I’d ever wanted was for Jonathan to be happy. In fact, I rooted for him daily. And here it was, happiness on a platter. I couldn’t make this about me, as much as I wanted to cry right now.

“Hey. We’re gonna be just as tight as we always are.” The tears in his eyes made mine well up. He was going to miss me, too. “We’re just gonna have to live on FaceTime more than we’re used to. You’re gonna be so sick of my endless calls.”

“Never,” I said, leaning against him on the bench seat.

“And you’re gonna need to rake up some frequent flyer miles.”

“Imagine me, a jetsetter.” We sighed in unison. Jonathan was leaving me.My Jonathan. Surreal. “When?”

“He starts the new job in six weeks, so we’ll need to be there by then.”

A pause. I looked up at him. “You love him.”

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