She sighed. “Not yet. But I want to.”
My emotions were already at the edge, but this tipped it over. “Seriously? Did all this new shit finally price you out? I could help you with the taxes, or the higher bills. Just tell me what you need.”
“I don’t need anything, Dean. Except maybe a job, but that’s not happening here.”
“We can find you something.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” she said slowly. “I’d rather move somewhere where I’m happy. Like Strawberry Springs.”
“You like it there?”
“I do. It feels like this place did once upon a time.”
“But you and Dad met here.”
“We did.”
“This is where you’re from.”
“It is.”
“Why would you let all of that go?”
“Why wouldyou?” she countered.
“Because it didn’t ...” I trailed off, but she knew where I was going.
“It didn’t feel like home anymore,” she finished with a sad smile. “And I wanna be near my grandbaby, Dean. Even if, God forbid, I live in an apartment.”
I could see why she was doing it, but my teeth gritted anyway. She was letting go of everything in favor of a town that I wasn’t sure deserved her.
“I hope it works out then. I wish I’d known sooner.”
“I had a feeling you would take it hard. And you are. On top of that, something else is going on.”
“That’s the last thing I wanna talk about.”
“Really? You drove all the way to your childhood home. It must have been big. Is it about the fight you and Grace had?”
“There wasn’t a fight.”
“Well, she certainly looked like a kicked puppy the last time I saw her.”
“That’s resolved.”
“Is it?”
“Yes,” I hissed. “Or, it should be. I don’t know what’s going on with me. I should be ... thrilled right now. We decided to be together.”
“A couple?” She gasped and then smiled. “This is great news! Unless ... unless you’re doing this because you feel like you have to.”
I jerked back. “What? No, I would never do that to her.”
“You come to a place that you’ve avoided for over a decade in the middle of the night. I’m gonna be convinced that it’s the worst-case scenario.”
“It’s not. At least, it’s not logically the worst-case scenario. Like I said, I don’t know what’s happening. I asked to be more and she said yes, and ever since then I’ve been feeling ... off.”
“Off. You finally ask a girl out and you’re feeling off?” She rubbed her forehead. “Does this have to do with what happened in high school? You asked that one girl out, I can’t remember her name, and then you suddenly hated love.”