Page 80 of Between the Blue

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When a few seconds go by and she still hasn’t said anything else, I start to feel weird. Kinda get a pit in my stomach. I’m about to ask if she’s okay. But then she speaks up.

“That’s great, Ben. I’m so happy for you.”

She turns her head slowly to look at me. Smiles tightly.

I caught her off guard. That’s all.

She leans in. Kisses my cheek.

“Thank you,” I tell her. “I’m really happy too.”

She grins again, but doesn’t say anything more.

“It’ll be nice to just be an hour away,” I say.

Jules’s starts to unfold the U of T sweatshirt, her expression unchanging. “Yeah. I bet,” she nods.

I tell myself to let it go. Because I always do. But the words just come out.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Jules says as she slips the sweatshirt over her head.

“What university are you going to?” I ask her. “I know we haven’t really talked about it.”

“Oh, I’m not.” She adjusts her sleeves, not looking at me.

“What?” I question her. “Really?”

She looks at me now. Lets out a little chuckle. “Well, yeah,” she says. “I’m just running my family’s business after high school. There’s not really a need.”

“Oh, right.” I blink.

I knew that.

Ishouldknow that.

She’s talked about how much her family means to her. How important the roller rink is to them.

I guess I’ve just never really thought too much about it though. The fact that the roller rink ishere. And will stay here. So, I guess that means here is where Jules will stay too.

That’s certainly better than other options.

Especially for me.

For us.

I suddenly feel like I can take a breath.

She’ll be close to me.

At least for the next few years.

I don’t let myself worry about it further than that. We’ll figure it out.

Because of course we will.

I can’t see a life for me where Jules isn’t in it. I wouldn’t want it.

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