Page 21 of Coff

“I don’t have anything saved up.”

He cocks his head. “Do you have a shoe addiction I don’t know about?”

I laugh. “No, it’s that I don’t get a salary.”

He pauses mid-bite, the humor in his eyes gone. “What do you mean?”

I shrug. “My dad says I can live rent-free; he’ll buy me whatever I want, and he gives me a weekly allowance.”

Logan closes his eyes. “Let me guess, it’s way less than a salary.”

“It covers gas mostly. And things like the night at the bar I met you.”

He eats his ice cream in silence for a few minutes. I keep glancing at him, but he’s staring out the window. Finally, he puts down his cup.

“Will you move to Virginia after you graduate in June? I’ll have one more year of service, then I’ll be all yours.”

I nearly choke on my bite as I stare up at him. “Are you serious?”

He nods. His intense stare confirms he is. Move to Virginia?

“You said you’d move to California when you were out of the service.”

“Virginia makes more sense. We can be together sooner.”

“And California makes more sense for me. Once we get to Virginia, you know you’ll be shipped out somewhere.”

“Not right away. Think about it. You said your father’s controlling you. If you moved near me in Virginia, you’d be free.”

“Would I? Or would I simply then just be under your control?”

His brow shoots up. “You think I’m controlling?”

I set down my cup. “No, but if I move to Virginia with no money, no job, I’ll be depending on you. And when you leave, I’d be all alone. And wait, you said near you, not with you?”

“I live on base, and since we’re not married, you would need to live off base. But my brother lives in Virginia, and I’m sure we could work something out for one year.”

I can’t be hearing this right. “You want me to move to Virginia and live with your brother, whom I’ve never met, while you are gone for up to a year? Why the hell would I do that?”

As I think about the insane suggestion, I have to admit it would be nice to be free from my dad, if he would ever let me go. Virginia would be an adventure. Except I would be alone most of the time and trapped with a stranger.

“I doubt I’d be gone the entire year. Plus, I can help you find a job. You can meet all my friends. You really wouldn’t be alone.”

His friends? The ones in the service with him? They’ll be shipped off, too.

“You’re hesitating,” he says.

I take his free hand in mine. “I would love to be with you, assuming we could work out some of my issues in Virginia. But on the other hand, I can’t just abandon my family.”

He cocks his head. “You wouldn’t be abandoning them; you’d be living your life.”

That’s not how my family would see it. “My dad has been grooming Duke and me to take over his businesses. If I go, that leaves a hole in his plans.”

Logan’s jaw clenches, then he nods. “But by waiting until June, you’d be giving him several months’ warning.”

Would that be enough? I don’t know, but I want to try. I smile. “That might work. But are you really asking me?”

He squeezes my hand. “I’m really asking. I want you to move to Virginia with me after you graduate in June.”

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