Page 26 of Should I Fall
“When?”
“A couple days before we left. Ihatedthat job. I know you all think I’m crazy when I tell you I can sense energies and vibes, but I can. And when I’m around bad energy for too long, it makes me sick to my stomach. All those lawyers were not good people. They didn’t care who they were helping. They only cared about the money. Which meant most of their clients made me sick to be around, too.”
“I never understood why you wanted to be a paralegal,” Erin says.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not. It was never…you.”
“I didn’t want anyone to worry about me. I know I’m whimsical and flaky sometimes?—”
“You’re not flaky. Whimsical? Yes. But definitely not flaky.”
“Then why didn’t you want me to be your maid of honor?” I ask, more confused than hurt.
“Because you would have hated it.”
“Oh,” I say, taking that answer in. It doesn’t take long to realize she’s right. Odd that I never once considered that. “I thought it was because you didn’t trust me not to screw it up?—”
“I am not our parents,” she says, taking my hand. “Dad made his choice when he married that awful woman who shall not be named. Gwen is all the proof you need of that mistake.” She mutters that last part under her breath. I want to ask whatever became of our stepsister when she showed up in Cancun to discover none of us were there. But Erin doesn’t give me the chance. “The only reason you being a paralegal ever made sense to me was that you wanted to make Dad proud.”
“Not a lie,” I mumble.
“But now, it’s time to do whatyouwant to do.”
“What if I don’t know exactly what that is?”
Erin shrugs, her gaze lifting over top of my head for a moment. “Then move to Cinnamon Creek with me and figure it out as you go. Isn’t that kind of your operating motto?”
“I guess, but?—”
“What will makeyouhappy, Stormi?” It’s not Erin’s voice this time. It’s Dash.
Erin squeezes my hand before dropping it. “I’ll let you two talk.”
I scoot over, making room for Dash on the loveseat. I know we’re going to be okay, but I don’t mind making him work for it a little, either.
“What will make you happy Stormi?” he asks again. “Do you want to spend summers at the fire tower with me? Do you want to open your own crystal shop here in town? Or maybe a clothing store that sells only yellow clothes?”
I let out a laugh at that. “You know, that could be fun.”
“I want you to stay, but I also know asking that of you is purely selfish on my part. I want you to stay because you know you’ll be happy here. I know I can’t make you happy. That’s something you have to do for yourself. But I’m here to support that happiness. To amplify it—and I think I’ve proven one or two of the many ways I can do that.”
A quiver low in my belly agrees.
“I have to warn you,” I tell him. “I’m basically broke with no backup plan.”
“I can’t imagine a thing like money would hold you hostage from happiness,” he says. “Not you, Miss Sunshine.”
“True.”
“You can stay with me if you want,” he offers, cupping my cheek. His thumb strokes my temple, and I’m taken back to all the love making over the past twenty-four hours. I could get usedto that on a regular basis. “In fact, I hope youwillstay with me. Blaze would be so miserable without you.”
“Just Blaze?”
“I’m done living in isolation, baby girl.” Dash moves closer, dropping his other hand to my thigh.
I’m tempted to crawl into his lap, right here in the lobby.
