Page 37 of Love is an Open Book
Mia doesn’t say anything for a moment, which isn’t typical for her.
“What do you think?” I’m desperate to know how she’d feel if I left.
“It’s not for me to say.” Her tone is cautious, and I turn to face her.
“Since when do you not have an opinion?”
“This is big, Gavin. I don’t want to influence you either way.”
“What else are friends for?”
“Listening,” she says. “Giving you a nudge if you’re on the wrong path.”
“Or telling me which is the right one.” I need her to say she wants me here.
She sighs and tugs her knees to her chest. “That I can’t do. It would be a big change, but who’s to say it’s not a good one?”
Who’s to say?I’d give anything to hear her say I shouldn’t go. “You wouldn’t mind me moving to Wisconsin?”
“It’s not the other side of the world,” she says. “We visit often in the summer anyway.”
“It’s not the same.”
“For you and me, no.” She sounds matter-of-fact, like the distance wouldn’t bother her at all, and it’s a kick in the gut. “Why haven’t you spoken to your dad about it?”
“Because I don’t have an answer.”
“He’s not the one asking you to take over, though.”
“That’s the other thing. It bothers me he didn’t tell me himself.” I shift, trying to get comfortable on the weirdly rubbery floor, and settle for resting my back against the wall. Mia follows suit, our legs stretched out in front of us, side by side. It’s nice to sit with her like this. No pretense. Just us.
Even though everything might be changing, I’m grateful for this moment. “He must’ve been considering it for months, if not years, but he never said a thing. I thought he’d work until he couldn’t. At least another decade.”
She nudges my shin with her foot. “You should ask him why.”
“Back to giving out advice?”
She grins, and my heart catches in my throat. I love that smile. “When the right choice is obvious, yeah.” Her expression shifts from teasing to solemn. “I know he relied on you too much in the past. Maybe he’s realized it, and that’s why he’s been more distant.”
“Or he’s decided to depend on Scott instead.”
“Would that be so bad?”
“No, but it doesn’t feel great to be left out. I want him toopen up to Scott. It’s good his circle is expanding. But I still want to be in it.”
“Easy choice, then.” She crosses her legs, and I do my best not to notice how we’re connected now, her bare knee resting against my thigh. “Call him. You don’t need to decide now.”
She’s given no clue on how she feels about the situation, and I know it’s on purpose. She doesn’t want to sway me. Maybe it’s asking too much to expect her to weigh in on something this life-changing. But I can’t help but remember when I showed her the listing for my house. How excited she’d been I was settling down close to Chicago. How she’d fallen in love with this town and a year later, bought a condo a few blocks away.
But we’re in our thirties now. Most of our friends are married and building a home together, and maybe Mia’s not so concerned about where I fit into that next step. Maybe it would be better for her if I wasn’t there to complicate things. Or maybe—probably—I’m just overthinking it and I should take her advice and call Dad before I waste any more time worrying.
“We’ll have to find our way out first,” I say. “Can’t believe they confiscated our phones.”
“No service a mile underground anyway,” she says, slipping back into character. She turns her headlamp on, and I grab my helmet and rise to my feet. “You good to keep going?”
Surprisingly, I’m doing okay. Maybe the conversation distracted me. “Less than twenty minutes to solve this.” A red countdown timer is set into one of the boulders. “I don’t want to quit.”
With one last searching look, she nods her head. “All right. I’m going to work on this puzzle if you want to investigate the rest of the space.”
