Page 66 of Choosing You

“What the hell?”

Realizing that Sloane had paid those fairs twice already, it only seemed fair for him to do this.

No matter how much it didn’t fit into his budget.

Once he booked it and totaled all the taxes and fees, he groaned.

And prayed he could convince her to move to Sweetbriar Ridge soon.

ChapterEleven

“You’re not coming? Again?” he asked a month later.

She knew he wasn’t happy with her plans to skip her trip to see him, but…she just couldn’t swing it. And honestly, she was a little miffed that he was copping an attitude with her over it. Other than the one weekend when he came to Fort Lauderdale, she was always in Sweetbriar Ridge. Hell, she’d used all the travel points she could scrounge up and flew up to see him the following weekend. It wasn’t like she wanted to keep score, but if she did, it was three to one in her favor. And as much as she tried to get ahead on her work, her boss was being a stickler about her not leaving early or taking any more time off.

She hated her job more and more each day. Will kept giving her leads on clients that would love to use her skills, but…she still wasn’t feeling confident about taking that step. Plus, everyone he referred her to was in Sweetbriar Ridge. Not that she didn’t appreciate it, because she did. And the people were great—the few that she met that she wasn’t related to—but she was a stickler about wanting to make some connections in a big city.

Will argued that Sweetbriar Ridge was big—not Fort Lauderdale big, but big enough—and how it was all in her head about needing to be successful in her home city. Was it? Was she psyching herself out over something so trivial? Wouldn’t getting started in a small town help her build her portfolio of work? Wouldn’t…?

“Sloane?”

Oh. Right. “I know you’re disappointed about this weekend, Will. I’ve just got a lot on my plate right now and I need some downtime at my own place to take care of some things. Laundry’s piled up, the refrigerator is empty, and I haven’t been able to do all the things I normally do on the weekends because I’m away by you. All the flying back and forth is just getting to me. Plus, it’s expensive. You understand that, right?”

He sighed. “I guess. I just…I feel like…” He paused. “I don’t know. I guess I feel like you’re backing off and I don’t understand why. Did I do something wrong?”

It was weird to be on the receiving end of this conversation. That was a line she knew she’d used on previous boyfriends when they pulled away.

“Long-distance relationships are hard, Will. Especially when…” She stopped herself. Not wanting to open that can of worms right now. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him. “They’re just hard.”

“No, you had something else you were going to say. What’s going on?”

“Will…”

“We’ve always been honest with each other, Sloane. Always,” he added softly.

And then she was. Honest. Sort of. She told him about her frustrations about the traveling being fairly one-sided and how it was wearing thin. Then she talked about all the things that were a draw for Fort Lauderdale and how even though she didn’t love everything about it, it was still her home and that it would only be fair if he gave it as much of a try as she’d given Sweetbriar Ridge.

“I don’t know what to say to all of that,” Will said when she was done. “I guess I thought…I thought you enjoyed coming here.”

“I do. I really do. But…sometimes I need to take care of things here. My job is here. My friends are here. My family is here.”

“They’re also here,” he murmured.

“I know that, but…” She sighed. “With everything moving forward with the body shop, it sounds like you’re going to need to be spending even more time close to Sweetbriar Ridge.”

He let out a long breath too. “I will…I mean, I have to. The shop, the expansion…well, it’s important to me, Sloane. But you’re important to me too.”

“And you’re important to me, Will. Maybe…maybe we just need a couple of weeks apart to re-evaluate things.”

He was silent for so long that Sloane began to worry. She was about to say something when he gruffly said, “Yeah. Maybe we do.”

“Let’s take a few days without talking,” she said, and it made her feel miserable saying it out loud.

“Sure.”

“Okay then. I’ll talk to you over the weekend. Bye, Will,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.

“Bye, Sloane.”

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