Page 45 of No Way Home
He dropped the hug, lips quirked in frustration. “Whatabout my dreams? Shouldn’t we support each other? Both of us?”
I scuffed a the toes of my tennis shoe in the dirt. “You have your dream job. You just barely started. Why do you want to leave?”
He waved my words away with his hand. “It’ll be fun. You can go to med school out there. Pick the place. Utah? Arizona? Nevada?”
I blew a stray hair out of my face. “Why would I do that when I already got into UVA? I have residency here. Going to school in another state would almost double the cost. Leaving now makes no logical sense.”
“Maggie,” he said, like I was being uptight. “It doesn’t have to make —”
“Griff,” my voice shook. I exhaled and finally said the words he didn’t want to hear. “You know I can’t. Even after med school. I’m not leaving my dad behind.”
“He can come with us. It’ll be a blast.”
I tipped my head back, eyes to the sky, chest heaving in frustration. Why couldn’t it ever be easy with him?“Griffin,” I exhaled. “I don’twantto leave the East Coast.”
The air between us crackled uncomfortably.
His eyes glinted, looking betrayed.
I hurried to explain. “I spent the first eighteen years of my life moving from place to place. It sucked. I’d be happy if I never saw another U-Haul as long as I lived. This is where my dad’s from.” Griffin knew that. I lived in the house my dad had grown up in. His parents left it to him when they passed.
“Your dad’s never even home,” Griffin grumbled.
“But he will be. As soon as he retires after this tour.”
His chest heaved like I’d just rocked his world. But he’d rocked mine when he brought this up last week. This summer was supposed to be our chance to finally grow closer, and not just in distance. Instead, it felt like we were growing apart in every way possible.
His expression turned cold. “I can’t accept that.” He held his hands up. “I won’t.”
“Griff—”
“I can’t stay here, Maggie,” he said in a tone of finality. “I can’t. It’s not negotiable. You come with me or…”
I stared at him, mouth hanging open.
But instead of taking it back, he turned on his heel and kicked into a sprint—running so fast I couldn’t have caught him if I wanted to.
I tried to run, but my lungs felt like they were filled with shards of glass. Every breath hurt. One leg in front of the other, I went, but it was barely better than speed walking.
A couple of minutes later, Bowen came up behind me. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” I made myself smile. “Where’d you come from?”
“Griff blew past me like he was trying to break the sound barrier. Looked mad enough to punch a tree.” He studied my face. “Figured I’d take a shortcut and run with you.”
He wasn’t even going to ask what the disagreement was about. He’d just shown up, no hesitation.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“Of course. But also—” he flashed an adorable crooked grin, “—we forgot to do our thing.” He offered me his fist.
I smiled through the crack in my chest and gave him a bump.
“Wah-hoo-wah,” we said in unison.
Chapter Fourteen
BOWEN
