Shock - Marie Johnston Page 0,68
pacing, his hands on his hips. I’d appreciate the strong lines of his body if his declaration weren’t so startling, and so resolved.
“I can be a paramedic there. They’re always hiring. Mom’s doing well. It’ll be better in the long run. She’ll end up seeing her grandson more if I do this.” He nods as he paces, to the door, turn, to the window.
“I support what you need to do, but what about us?”
He stops and stares at me as if he’s just realized I’m in the same room. “We can do long distance.”
“Can we?” I don’t want long distance. But I don’t want to lose him.
“Lots of couples do.”
I nod, but something about this situation sits in my stomach like a bowling ball. “But does one of them leave the other to follow his ex to another town?”
His brows drop. “It’s for my son.” He says it slow, enunciating every word.
“I get that. But Cass broke up with you because you refused to leave Sunnyville. But she’s leaving Sunnyville and not ten minutes later, you’re leaving too?”
“That first decision cost me a hell of a lot.”
Emotion swells so high in me that I have to stand and burn it off. “Right, again, I understand. All I’m saying is give it a few days to think about.”
“I don’t need a few days. Why don’t you come with me?”
He says it like it’s a simple solution to a complicated problem. “I’m signed up for the paramedic course. I’m locked into three years. My home is Sunnyville.” Add in the length of the course and we’re looking at a long long-distance relationship.
He rolls his lower lip between his teeth and considers me. “You won’t leave? Not even for me?”
“It wouldn’t be for you. It’d be for your ex and I’ve already done enough for one guy hung up on his ex.”
“So, what? You’d just start ignoring my messages?”
Low blow. He’s hurting, I’ll give him some leeway, but this problem isn’t going to be solved unless he stays or I leave. As it stands, neither one of us is budging in our decision. “For your information, I made sure Samuel understands we’re through and we’ll always be through.”
He’s quiet for a second before he huffs out a breath. “The night you stand up to him, you put your foot down with me. I thought we were a team.”
“A team doesn’t mean one person drops their entire life for a spur of the moment decision.”
He shoots me a glare that could wither a cactus. “My kid isn’t a spur of the moment decision.”
I’ll never win this argument and I don’t know that I should. He needs to do what he has to for his family. And I need to do what I have to for me.
My voice shakes as I say, “Why don’t you go then? My parents can take me back.”
He stares at me for a heartbeat, his expression hard but stricken. “So that’s it then?”
My nod wavers as much as my resolve. “Do what you have to do.”
“I’ll see if I can switch with Mitch until I’m done.”
I nod again, words unable to form on my tongue as tears gather in my eyes. I hug my arms around myself and stare out the window as he disappears into the bathroom to change and pack his things.
Then he’s gone. It’s like the last couple of months haven’t happened. Once again, I’m heartbroken in San Francisco, wondering how to start over in Sunnyville.
Chapter 19
Ford
I knock on Cass’s door. I’ve had shit for sleep since I returned to town late Saturday night. On Sunday, I was too exhausted to confront Cass. Now it’s Monday evening and she should be home from work. The mess of feelings inside me are tangled worse than a hose in a hurricane and I can’t sort them out.
I’m desperate. I’m devastated. I’m sick as hell of feeling powerless.
It’s been less than forty-eight hours as a single guy and I’m lonely as hell and missing Lia with every fiber of my being. I miss my girlfriend, but I can’t even go to work and talk to my friend about it.
I don’t work until next week. I managed to pawn off my shifts for the week, calling in every favor owed to me for covering people’s asses when I was a single guy with no responsibilities. Jada and the time she was too hungover with a blood alcohol level that was probably too high to even drive legally. Russel, who thinks he’s