Page 23 of Finding Jess

He cleared his throat in an unusually awkward way.“I’m gonna go stretch my legs,” he mumbled. “I’ve been sitting at that desk for too long today.”

He made his way out the door, avoiding both their looks as he closed it behind him.

Jess remained still behind her, staring after him. “Well, that was weird,” she mumbled.

Sam shifted in the chair, running a hand across the back of her neck, her brain sprinting through the million different things she could say.

But in all those options, nothing felt right.

Jess weaved around the chair, brows furrowing slightly as she peered down at her.“What’s wrong?”

Sam exhaled slowly, but it failed to quell the anxiety bubbling up in her chest. “We’ve been talking more about the idea of going to Austin to sign that new client and work with their team.”

Jess’ throat bobbed as she swallowed.

She waited for Jess to say something. Anything.

But she remained silent. And within her eyes lay something deep. Some sadness that looked eerily familiar. Something she’d only seen once before.

The day she’d told her she was leaving for MIT.

“You’re gonna do it, aren’t you?” Jess whispered.

Sam closed her eyes, releasing a breath before finally looking up at her.

She nodded once.

“How long?” Jess asked, and the fragile tone in her voice instantly made her want to change her mind. To rush out and tell Caleb they couldn’t do it. That they had to figure something else out.

But she couldn’t.

They’d already had that conversation. And she knew how it would end.

They needed this.Sheneeded this. She needed to make something of herself. And this was her chance.

“A few months,” she answered. “Maybe more.”

Jess nodded slowly, closing her eyes. “What does that mean for us?”

“Nothing has to change,” Sam answered, the words rushing out as if the speed would make them true—would cement them into being. “We can go back to how things were. We can—we can call and Facetime and—“

Jess shook her head, and the look on her face was all she needed to see to know the answer.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t spend another four years—”

Jess paused, tilting her head back as she squeezed her eyes shut.

And all at once, Sam felt the one thing she’d held onto all that time slipping away.

“I can’t do it again, living my life around texts and calls,” Jess whispered, opening her eyes to reveal two pools of wetness. “I can’t wait anymore.”

Chapter five

“Lets give it up for our amazing panel guests,” the host bellowed into his microphone from the side of the stage at the front of the large banquet hall. “These are some of the most brilliant minds in finance today, shaping the industry.”

Sam clapped politely, her eyes flicking toward the stage as the panelists exchanged handshakes and goodbyes. Conversations hummed as people drifted toward the back of the room, the stage at the room’s center now empty under its sharp spotlight.

She sat near the back of the room, watching as attendees stood, stretching and gathering their belongings. A few rows ahead, Jess and Liz rose from their seats, Jess brushing a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear as they turned to head toward the exit.

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