Tell Me It’s Right (Sweetspire #1)

Chapter 42

Chapter Forty-Two

LIAM

She’s leaving next week.

I don’t let it show on my face. I can’t.

I have to keep smiling for her sake. I have to stay excited for her sake. She worked so damn hard for this. She must have submitted at least a hundred applications, and her talents have been wasted on me and my tiny shop in this tiny town. This is her big opportunity. I can’t ruin that for her. I won’t.

So I cook her dinner and pour her wine and ask every question I can think of about the new job.

And I smile. And I laugh.

And I tell her it’ll be fine.

And I don’t, not even for a second, think about Hailey.

I don’t think about having these exact conversations with her when we first went long distance.

I don’t think about how certain I’d been then that everything would work out. That nothing would change between us, not really.

That I could trust her.

But this is different.

Gracie is different.

She’s so different from Hailey I could laugh. She’s soft everywhere Hailey was hard, kind everywhere Hailey was cruel.

But Gracie and I, we’ve barely gotten our feet off the ground. This is still so new.

On the other hand, with Hailey, we’d had years of history, and look what good that did me.

Gracie smiles at me across the table as she takes another bite of her taco. I don’t think she has any idea how fucking cute she is. When she smiles, her nose crinkles, and her round cheeks shoot straight up. She just radiates pure light.

“Best tacos I’ve ever had,” she says.

She’s a terrible liar, but I think I did okay for my first time trying to make tofu.

“Are you excited about living in the city?”

She tilts her head back and forth as she sips her wine. “Intimidated. Portland is so small in comparison, and even then, my school wasn’t downtown . It’ll be totally new to me.” Her lips twist into a shy smile. “I’m kind of scared.”

I reach for her hand across the table. “Everything new is scary. Then you get used to it, and it’s not new anymore, and it loses that power. Plus, you’re like the bravest person I know.”

She guffaws as if I’ve said something absurd.

I tilt my head to the side when I realize she’s serious. “I mean it. You didn’t know anyone on the West Coast before you chose that school. But you just picked up and moved about as far away from home as you possibly could. I know you were scared to do it, but you did it anyway. That , to me, is real bravery.” Her cheeks redden, and I squeeze her hand. “This is a new chapter for you, and it’s going to be amazing. I’m so excited for you.”

“Thank you,” she murmurs, “for being so great about all of this. It means a lot to me. I know this affects you too. And I know it’s probably…well, it might…” She grimaces as she fights for the right words.

“It is going to suck not having you around. Every day I walk into the shop and don’t see you, I’m going to hate it. I’m going to hate not being able to drive five minutes to see you, that I won’t be able to take you out as much as I want. I’m going to miss you every day.” She chews on her bottom lip, and I run my thumb over the back of her hand. “But I would hate it more if you stayed,” I murmur. “Because I know this is the right thing for you. And I don’t ever want to be the thing that holds you back.”

Her smile is small, sad, as she drops her gaze to her lap. Now that I’ve driven us into this somber mood, I’m not sure how to get out. But I don’t want to leave things on this note. Don’t want to leave them at all, actually.

“Stay here tonight. You can catch me up on all your zombie movie news.”

A spark flicks to life in her eyes.

I grin and reach for the wine bottle to refill her glass.