Page 155 of No Rings Attached
The sky stretched out before us, a deep purple-blue like a healing bruise. Everything smelled like fall and cut grass and possibility.A new beginningmy body whispered. A new place, a new family, a new start.
Drew intertwined his fingers with mine as we reached the walkway. “You don’t need to answer me right now about moving in. I know tonight was a lot,” he said, his tone gentle. “I don’t want to pressure you.”
“You’re not,” I responded. “I’d like a little time to think about it, though.” It was a yes, wrapped in caution. Things had moved fast between us, and I wanted to make the right decision for me.
“Of course.” He squeezed my fingers. “But you’re thinking of moving here?”
“I am.” A wide grin stretched across my face, and warmth bloomed in my chest like a cozy ball of yarn wrapped around our love. “I don’t want to be far from my boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. He’s my actual boyfriend.
The words felt right on my tongue. Real in a way nothing with Kyle had ever been.
He grinned back, his whole face lighting up. “Good. Because your very real boyfriend is very against long-distance.” He glanced towards his car, and something shifted in his expression—excitement bleeding into his features. “The next few months will be intense, and having you close will make sure we see each other more.”
My breath caught, an uneasy flutter starting in my stomach.
Wait. Why does ‘intense’ suddenly sound ominous?
Drew kept going, his words tumbling faster now. “With the Heritage Line getting the green light and the expansion still on track, I’ll be bouncing between design and operations. It’s a lot, but it’s good. It’s what I’ve been working toward.”
“Right.” The word came out flat. The cozy warmth in my chest began to cool.
His gaze locked on mine, face animated and bright with enthusiasm as he figured out how his new role would mesh with the old. “Mornings at the office—we can still drive in together. Then I’ll spend afternoons at the nearby construction sites to oversee progress. I might have to fly out a few times for the ones further away, but the great part about working together is that you could go with me sometimes.”
“Yeah. Sometimes.” I forced words past the tightness building in my throat.
“Thank God I have you. You have the magic touch with my schedule.” He was warming to his subject now, planning out loud. “With all the additional meetings we’ll need to slot in, I think I’ll have to bring in my cousin Logan. He’s been asking how he could help with the project, and now’s the perfect time to get him involved.”
Each word landed like a small cut.
The more he talked and with each responsibility he listed a tiny string inside my chest was cut. Three appointments became five in his recitation. A day or two of travel morphed into possibly a week. He was trying—genuinely trying—to make a world with room for me in it.
But I can see the space shrinking. With every promise he makes to everything else.
“We’ll have dinner every night,” he continued, squeezing my hand. “And I can’t wait to show you more of Ruby River on the weekends when I'm home.”
When I’m home.
When he’s home.
“Mmm.” The sound came out strangled.
The little girl who’d stood at the edge of every room waiting to be picked, waiting to matter, tried so hard to stand tall. Tried to figure out a way to make this work, to contort myself into whatever shape would fit into the margins of his life.
But the woman I’d slowly grown into over the past two weeks laid a steady hand on her shoulder and saidNo,we’re done accepting small doses of attention and pretending it’s okay.
Drew stopped mid-sentence, his brow creasing. “What? Is everything okay?”
“You’re planning to work twenty-hour days through spring.” My words came out quiet, factual. No anger. Just truth lined up like dominos.
He opened his mouth to protest.
I kept going, needing to say it all before I lost my nerve. “And then summer is rollouts, and fall is travel, and winter is forecasting. And I will love you through all of it and see you in the tiny spaces of free time your schedule allows.”
Mornings in the car. Maybe dinner if nothing runs late.
He flinched like I struck him. “I can make it work. We’ll be in the same town. We work together. We’ll see each other every day.”
