Page 64 of Love Story

“How?”

“I said that I could imagine forever with him.”

Everyone stared at me with open-mouthed shock, and I forged ahead.“But he’s going back to Boston, and what if I screw it up by being all ‘don’t go back to Boston and stay here with me instead.’”I added that last part with an exasperated sigh.What did I know about falling in love?

“That’s what love is,” Haider said.“Taking the risk.Go forth and boyfriend.”

Conor snickered, nodding.“‘Go forth and boyfriend’.Solid advice.”

Ryan, who had been silent this whole time, finally spoke up, his voice dry.“Well, Conor’s off the hook for that thirty-year marriage pact.”

Conor barked out a laugh.“Damn straight.I knew you’d find someone before I had to make good on that deal.”

I groaned, burying my face in my hands.“You’re all useless.”

“We’re supportive,” Ryan corrected, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

“I can’t move to Boston,” I announced loudly.There was a chorus of agreement.“And if he leaves…”

“Convince him to stay.”Conor made it sound easy.

“Yep,” Ryan agreed.

Haider nodded.“Someone may as well get to stay in town,” he sighed.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing,” he said, way too fast.“Just, y’know, options are limited for jobs here, and I might need to think about…”

“About what?”None of this sounded like a good thing.

“Nothing!”Haider announced with a grin.“Ignore me and go do your thing with the impossibly cute guy from the city.”

I sighed.“He is cute, right?”

Haider rolled his eyes, “Yes, he’s cute.”

“So cute,” Ryan added.

“The cutest,” Conor said with a smirk.

I elbowed Ryan and Haider, then smacked Conor on the chest.

“I’ll go over in the morning and talk to him.”

“Why not now?”Conor asked, “Strike while the iron is hot.”

“Because I’m not… because…” I don’t know, but I needed time to think and develop a plan and script words that didn’t just dribble from my brain.I was going to ask a man I’d only known a few months to stay in small-town New Hampshire with me, and that was big, particularly when I lost myself in his green eyes.

“Tomorrow,” I said with a stubborn tilt to my chin.

“Good call,” Haider said.

“Sleep on it,” Ryan added.

That was a plan.

I WISHED I’Dgotten to Harriet’s house in the morning to talk to Ben, but the farm had other plans.The sap collection might have been completed for the season, but that didn’t mean the work was done, and my two rest days were over.One of the storage tanks had developed a slow leak overnight, and I spent half the morning scrambling to transfer the remaining syrup into backup containers before we lost too much.Sticky floors, sticky hands, and sticky boots—it was a mess.

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