Page 133 of Loving You

“It’s complicated,” she says instead. “It’s exactly what we didn’t want when we started this.”

“So un-complicate it.”

“How? It’s my job, and I have contracts to?—”

“To fucking hell with the contracts, Quinn. Tell them you want to cancel them.”

“This is my job, Miles.”

“Find a new one. One with less travel and one that lets you be here.”

It doesn’t take her any time to snap back, “Close the shop every two weeks and come with me.”

“You know I can’t do that. People have planned their schedules around me when I gave them my word on their cars.”

“And I signed contracts that mean the exact same thing.”

I’ve only ever cried twice in my life. Once when I broke my leg in seventh grade and again when my mom died.

The longer I sit here with Quinn, the chances of a third time increase.

“There’s nothing I can do to keep you here, is there?” It’s clear neither of us is going to make a sacrifice for the other.

She reaches for my hands and laces our fingers. I pull her until she stands flush against me.

She slowly shakes her head. “I can’t just give up everything I’ve worked for, and neither can you.”

“So that’s it, huh?” My voice is laced with defeat. “One summer—hell, half a summer—with you, and this thing with us is over?”

Quinn doesn’t answer me, but she doesn’t need to. It’s a rhetorical question.

She leans into me, and I hold her tight.

“Knowing how this was going to end was supposed to be the easy part,” she whispers.

I nod and kiss her forehead, keeping my next thought to myself.

No, Quinn, the easy part was loving you.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

QUINN

My eyes open before my alarm has a chance to go off. I’m curled on my side, clutching a spare pillow against my chest. Miles is right behind me, his hand draped over my midsection as he holds me close to his heart.

I want to close my eyes and go back to yesterday or the day before, maybe even the week before. Back to when I wasn’t suddenly leaving.

The timing, though, after our conversation last night is fitting.

If I stay any longer, I’m not sure what may or may not develop between us. I’m afraid we’d make it so terrible to be around each other that every time I come back to Lovers, we’ll avoid the other all over again.

I don’t want to go back to that.

I also don’t know what’s going to happen when I do come back. Will we have to face these feelings all over again? Will we just have fling after fling?

I don’t want that either.

I know I’d grow more attached with each visit. So leaving assoon as possible is what’s best right now, and the email from my agent in the middle of the night asking me to leave today is a sign that it’s time for me to go.

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