Page 39 of When You're Gone
He tried again. “If you want to go back to Hampton, fine. But I really wish you’d stay. I need you. I don’t feel like I can do this alone.”
“Rhett,” she groaned. “That’s not fair. I have things going on, too, and you know it.”
“What else do you have going on besides the fundraiser?”
“I have to work! I’m on the schedule twice next week.”
“You don’thaveto work.”
Flames erupted in her eyes. He had never called her out like this—but it was ridiculous for her to point to her very part-time serving job as an excuse for not being with him now.
“I have a life in Hampton, Everhett. I have Penny to think about. I have a whole house to pack up…” she trailed off and cast her eyes down at her hands.
He huffed out an involuntary sigh. Penny would be fine for another week with her dad. Rhett would be happy to hire movers to help with the packing. She was grasping for any excuse to get away. She just wasn’t willing to admit it. She also wasn’t done making excuses.
“I probably need to make an appointment with my academic advisor soon, too, just so I can get things sorted before next semester.”
If every other excuse was a pinprick, that one was a sucker punch. She hadn’t talked about school for months. Not until last weekend when he’d brought it up at dinner, and then again when her dad told them about selling the house. For her to double-back and imply it was a priority right this second…
He grasped the arms of the chair and sat up straighter. He ran his hand along the back of his neck, trying so damn hard to keep his cool. “Do you think there’s a conversation that still needs to be had there?” he tried.
“Doyouthink there’s a conversation to be had there?” she challenged.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. He wouldn’t fight her on this. He wouldn’t beg. Her happiness—her hopes and dreams and everything she wanted for her life—had always been his priority, and they both knew it. He refused to let her twist the situation and make him feel like he was asking too much or reneging on the version of their life he had promised her.
“Get up, please,” he calmly instructed as he lifted her hips and rose to his feet. Just because he wouldn’t engage in this conversation didn’t mean he had to sit here and let her pick a fight.
“How soon do you want to leave?” he asked, avoiding eye contact as he made his way to the fridge. He analyzed the contents before pulling out a can of seltzer. “Quinn can probably get you on the Friday afternoon flight that I usually take back to Hampton.”
He glanced to where she stood in the kitchenette, her arms still crossed over her chest as she shifted from one foot to the other.
“Friday works.”
He leaned against the open fridge door, assessing her. He didn’t know if his expectations were outlandish, if he was being selfish, or if she was the one who was wrong. But he knew better than to try to trap her or convince her to do anything she didn’t want to do once she shut down like this. She was standing right before him, but she was already gone.
He’d spent years pursuing her: beating on the walls she’d carefully constructed around her heart to keep him at arm’s length. He refused to revert back to that dynamic. If she didn’t want to be here…
Fuck.
Why didn’t she want to be here?
“V, I don’t really know when I’ll be able to come back to Hampton next. Quinn is still consolidating my calendar with everything my granddad had committed to over the next few months. I have an enormous workload between the merger and…”
“Don’t worry about me. I understand. I’ll be busy in Hampton anyway, and you’ll be busy here. It’ll be fine.”
It wouldn’t be. And he hated that she didn’t see that. Or if she did, that she didn’t care. He slammed the fridge shut harder than necessary, turning on his heel and leaving the room without another word. She called after him, but he didn’t turn back. If she was done, then so was he.
Chapter fourteen
Tori
Shesatcross-leggedonthe couch, staring at the blank screen of the enormous TV mounted above the fireplace in the Wheelers’ living room. There was a gentle quietness to the empty house this early in the morning that juxtaposed the bitter nag of anxiety she couldn’t shake.
She had arrived back in Hampton around dinnertime last night. She drove straight to her dad’s house to pick up Penny, then crossed through their backyards to sleep in Rhett’s room.
Jake had made sure everything had been cleaned up from her birthday party, but no one had been here to set out the bins on garbage day. An abundance of crumpled party streamers greeted her when she put the kitchen garbage in the outdoor cans. How had her party been less than a week ago? It felt like she had slogged through a lifetime over the last few days.
Not knowing what to do with herself last night, she had showered until the water ran cold, then crawled into bed without brushing her teeth or drying her hair. The sheets were still rumpled—the evidence of their passion from last weekend a painful reminder of how much had changed in such a short amount of time.
