Page 95 of Love Off-Limits
After Isaac and Rosie went to bed, I sat in the living room with Darcy, her feet propped up on the coffee table in front of us. “How’s Mom?”
“In Cancun with Phil,” she said.
“Didn’t they just go to Cancun?”
“A few months ago. And she loved it there so Phil took her back.” Darcy stretched and yawned. “I’m glad she’s doing all this traveling,” Darcy said. “She never got to go anywhere with Dad. Heaven forbidheleave work long enough to actually take a vacation.”
“I don’t want to be that way,” I said, leaning forward and lining up the coasters that sat on the coffee table. Each coaster revealed a different view of Charlotte’s skyline. “I won’t be.”
She pulled one of the throw pillows on the sofa onto her lap. “Do you ever still feel mad at Dad?”
I shrugged. “Nah. He was a good dad. I just always felt like we were competing with his work for his attention, you know? And I never felt like Mom was given the opportunity to pursue her own dreams. She’s always dreamed of traveling. You remember all the postcards she collected? And he never took her anywhere. His dreams were always priority.”
“So what happens when two people who love each other have conflicting dreams? What then?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Give me an example.”
“Okay,” she said pointedly. “You’re living in Charlotte with a job thatreallymakes you happy. It challenges you. It stretches you. You love it, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“And Olivia is in Silver Creek livingherdream. Managing her family’s farm. Building a business that she’s passionate about.”
I swallowed. “Right.”
“But you love each other.”
I sank back into the cushions. “I don’t know about that.”
“You don’t know if you love her?”
I shook my head. “No, I know I love her. I just.. . don’t think that she loves me.”
Darcy pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “But she might.”
If she did, wouldn’t she have reached out to me by now? It had been six weeks since I’d last seen her.
“Would you give this up?” Darcy asked. “This place? This job?”
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been relieved that so far, I hadn’t had to make that choice. I’d asked Olivia to give me a reason to stay, and she hadn’t been able to do it. So when the Ethans had offered me a job, I’d had a million reasons to take it, and not a single reason to say no.
But what if Oliviahadasked me to stay?
In her world, I was a farmhand. A YouTube dropout looking to get back on my feet.
But here? Here I had something to offer. I had the opportunity to be creative, to contribute in a new way. It had only been a little over a month, but everything about my job with Ethan Advertising feltright.
But my job wasn’t all that mattered. And the certainty that I had fallen in love with Olivia only grew the longer I was away from her. Time would dim the feelings, I knew. But at what cost?
“Yeah. If she asked me to, I would.”
Darcy sighed. “I want to be in love.”
I chuckled. “Because I’m making it look so good right now?”
“True. You’re pretty pitiful. But Isaac and Rosie are the sweetest.”
I punched her in the shoulder. “Your time will come.”
