Page 25 of From You to Me

The lines in the corner of his eyes wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“Leaving here. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I want to badly, but I’ve nowhere to go.”

“Why?”

“I used to live with my auntie at her boyfriend’s house, but she died.” My voice grew thick with sadness. “I’ve spent three months at the hospital, and I don’t even know if I can stay at his place anymore.”

“I’m going to New York,” he stated, grinning.

“What?” I muttered.

“I’m actually going to be driving up there. That is, after I fix this.” He waved his sling. “You should come.”

“What?” I muttered again, this time in utter disbelief.

“You have nowhere to go, and I need a roommate, so that’s a win-win, right?”

“I think so.”

“Yay, I have a roommate.” He clapped excitedly. “I can’t wait to tell Rory. That ass told me I can never find one.”

“Wait.” I held up a hand, my brain still trying to process. “What do you mean? Why New York, and who's Rory?”

“Why not New York? The city of dreams, right? Don’t worry, I already have everything planned. I even landed a cheap apartment. It’s going to be so much fun! I still have to find a job, though, which is not very fun. And Rory is my boyfriend. He goes to college down South. We’re doing the long-distance thing till he moves to New York after college. I already miss that pig.”

“I thought LA was the city of dreams.”

“Oh, come on. Who the fuck cares? The city of dreams is wherever I want it to be.”

“But all my things are in Seattle,” I said meekly.

“We can add a stop on our trip. So…” He lifted a brow in question. “What do you say, New York City, chica?”

Something about this made my heart leap. Moving to another city with someone I barely knew felt scary and stupid.

But it awoke something that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Hope.

Maybe if everything in life was going to happen for a reason, perhaps I was supposed to end up in New York.

I might not know the “why” now or ever, but somehow, I knew it would make sense one day. That was why I said, “Yes.”

He grinned, shooting off to his feet, and helped me up. “To the adventure of our lifetime… Fuck. I don’t even know your name.”

“Evy,” I replied softly.

The grin never left his face. “I’m Gabe.” He held out his hand. “New York City, here we come.”

Strawberry’s bark pulled me back to the present.

The time told me it was high time to get ready for work.

A nervous hand took hold of my gut when I thought about what I had to do today.

Because Gabe was right, I had to tell Jay everything. But the question was, would he even listen?

CHAPTER 6

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