Page 62 of Where It All Began
“We have an agreement. You help me with my thesis. I help you for the summer. Just because one’s done doesn’t mean the other’s done, too.” She pushed away from the table and rinsed her mug in the sink. “You’re being ridiculous right now. I’ll see you out in the fields after you’ve had more coffee and start making sense again.”
But before she could make it to the door, he had her by the arm and was towing her backwards.
“I’m serious, Phoebe. I think you should go. Today.”
She shook her head, certain she was misunderstanding him somehow. “John, no. We’re in the middle of picking squash, and I’m making burgers tonight. Elvira’s coming over tomorrow—”
“There’s no point in you staying here prolonging the inevitable. You’re leaving. It might as well be now.”
“Who’s going to help you?” she demanded, pointing toward the fields.
“I got along just fine without you before you showed up here. I’m sure I can fumble my way through the harvest.”
Tears inexplicably welled in her eyes. She’d earned her place here. She was valuable to him. Damn it, she had more to give him before she had to go.
“Go spend time with your family before you start your job.”
“How did you know—”
“I heard you on the phone last night. You should have told me.” At least there was a hint of something besides disinterest now in his voice.
“I was going to. I hadn’t decided…”
“You haven’t decided what?” John shoved a hand through his dark hair. “To take it? That’s bullshit. This is exactly what you wanted. You’d be stupid to turn down an opportunity like this.”
“Maybe I was hoping for another opportunity,” she shot back.
“Like what exactly?” The condescension in John’s tone was heavy enough that Phoebe didn’t feel the need to respond.
“I don’t know. I have time before I have to decide.” Twenty-three hours and forty minutes to be exact.
“It’s what you want. Don’t start questioning it now.”
“Don’t you want me to stay?” The words burned a trail up her throat and then hung in the air between them.
She saw the flash in the depths of his eyes, felt the reflexive tightening of his fingers on her arm just before the lie.
“No.”
“John.” She was moving from hurt to pissed the fuck off with alarming speed. “Don’t pretend like I don’t mean anything to you.”
“Don’t pretend like we have a future,” he countered. “What we had was… fun. But it’s over. There’s no reason for you to stay.”
“You’re an idiot,” she snapped. Phoebe wrenched free from his grip. “I guess I have some packing to do.”
She stormed out of the kitchen with her heart in pieces.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“This is everything,” Phoebe said, swiping her palms over the seat of her jeans. Her bags that she’d reluctantly packed while wiping away tears, sat at her feet.
He was supposed to call her bluff now. Faced with a Phoebe-less life, he was supposed to come to his senses and beg her to stay.
John nodded and took her suitcase for her. “I’ll carry this out for you.”
Was he in that big of a hurry to get rid of her?Phoebe wondered.Didn’t he see that her heart was breaking? Or did he see and not care?
She followed him out the front door, her heart shattering with every single step. She crossed the front porch that she’d miss so much, the rickety steps that kept getting pushed further and further down the fix list. He’d pulled her car around for her as if to hurry her along.
