Page 116 of Wilder

“It starts Thursday, so we don’t have much time to get ready.”

Wilder couldn’t help but wonder how Lexi was doing as she prepared. He wanted to talk to her. To assure her that she had their support.

But maybe that didn’t matter to her. It seemed she’d had a fairly small team of support previously, so maybe she was fine not knowing that she had a bunch of people in her corner.

He wondered if her mom would attend, even though she’d said her mom didn’t like going to her competitions. Maybe she’d make an exception since her ex-husband—her daughter’s father—was in prison and couldn’t make it to her competitions anymore.

Once the girls were done with their hot chocolate, Charli sent them up to their room to get their bedding since apparently they were going to have a sleepover with Rori in the basement.

“Have you talked to Lexi?” Charli asked once the girls had left.

“Nope.” Wilder slowly spun the mug between his fingers. “I told you that she said she needed to focus. She doesn’t want me bothering her.”

Charli frowned. “You two seemed to get along so well together. I honestly thought it would become something more.”

“It would never have been anything more than a friendship,” he said, staring down at the mug. “Our lives are just too different.”

“I’m sure you could have figured something out.”

“Which one of us would have had to give up their way of life?” he asked.

“Definitely you,” Janessa said without a moment of hesitation.

He lifted his brows. “What? Why me?” Wilder couldn’t deny that there was a big part of him that would have loved to show Lexi the world. To travel to his favorite places with her.

“You’re getting older, Wilder,” she said. “It’s time for you to move forward. Stop gallivanting all over the world. Settle down.”

Those two words made Wilder cringe. Settle down? It sounded so boring, and definitely not what he thought he’d do until he was well into his thirties. He didn’t have a plan in place to make that kind of transition yet.

But would he do it if Lexi would give him a chance?

Theyesthat echoed through his mind took him off-guard. It wasn’t something he’d seriously considered because at first it had just been a friendship, and then they’d decided that was all it could be. And then… well, she’d shut down even that.

Still, he couldn’t help but pick up his phone and tap out a message.

Hope everything is going well for the competition this weekend. We’ll be praying for you and cheering you on. Take care!

He set his phone face down on the table, unwilling to sit there staring at it while he waited for her response. She’d get back to him when she was able to. Or maybe not at all.

“What would I do if I settled down?” Wilder asked.

His siblings were quick to rattle off a bunch of stuff. All of it was ludicrous to him. “I’m not going back to school, so doctor, nurse or accountant are out of the question. So is teacher.”

“Just use the degree you have,” Lee said. “I mean, you’re able to work as you gallivant around the world, so you should be able to stay in one place to do it.”

“True, but the view as I work while gallivanting is usually new and stunning.”

“Seriously though, Wilder,” Charli said. “You need to look a little further into the future.”

“Iamlooking into the future. I have already started to plan for when I leave in April.”

“But how about beyond that?” she pressed. “Do you have plans forthat?”

He didn’t, really. So much could happen before he made the decision to “settle down.” What was the purpose of planning that far into the future, when his plans might not line up with where God wanted him?

That was why he didn’t even plan a year into the future. It felt like a waste of time.

“You might lose out on an opportunity with someone or something if you’re unwilling to consider that settling down might need to happen sooner.”

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