Yes.
But I know that answer would be just as bad as the first. Maybe worse. So, instead, I lean in and press a soft kiss against his mouth to temper the blow as I reply.
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“LA isn’t for me.”
“Have you been there?”
“Nope.”
“Then how do you know you’d hate it?”
The parties, the drugs, the traffic, the vapid materialism…
I swallow down my list of insults regarding his soon-to-be home and shrug lightly. “I’m an introvert.”
“So? Why should that matter?”
“Spoken like a true extrovert.”
He snorts. “Felicity, be serious.”
“Iambeing serious! I don’t drink, I never party. I don’t even own a cellphone. I like reading books and writing in the park. My dream day involves a swim at the lake, a pretty sunset, a guitar, and a warm bonfire sparking up toward a sky full of stars.” My voice goes soft. “Does any part of that picture bring LA to mind?”
“Not exactly.” His lips twist. “But tell me, in this dream…”
I arch my brows.
“Are you alone? Or is someone sitting at your side by that fire, playing that guitar on the side of that lake?”
“Um… maybe there’s someone with me.”
Maybe that someone is you.
“We could make new dreams,” he murmurs, his eyes almost pleading. “Start fresh. A whole city to explore. Think about it.”
“Ryder… I can’t leave. I just got here. I’m finally settling in, finally building a life.” His mouth opens to object, but I barrel on. “And I know you’re going to say I could do that anywhere… but I don’t want to do it anywhere else. I like Nashville. I like being able to visit my grandmother on my days off. I like working at this bar. I like hearing music in every shop and restaurant. I like the rowdy tourists and the honky tonks and the bright neon lights.”
“I get that. I do, but—”
“No.” My voice gets quiet. “I feel safe here. And for me, a girl who spent pretty much her whole childhood never feeling safe… that’s huge. It’severything.” I smile, even though I want to cry. “But you… you’ve been safe your whole life. That’s why you’re so desperate to get out of this town. For the first time, you’re choosing a path thatisn’tsafe, one that’s scary and unsettled and full of adventure. And I’m so, so incredibly—”Heartbroken. “—happy for you.”
A deep sigh rattles his chest. “Opposites attract, I suppose.”
“So they say.”
“I— I don’t want this to be goodbye.” His mouth hits my hair, breathing me in. “I don’t want to walk away from you when the sun rises, not knowing if I’ll ever see you again.”
“I know. Me neither.” A few rebellious tears trickle from the corner of my eye, despite my best intentions to keep them at bay. “But you and me… we suffer from a case of bad timing.”
“Ships passing in the night?”
“Star-crossed lovers.”
“Scorpius and Orion,” he mutters darkly.