Page 76 of Petals and Plot Twists
“Yeah?” she asks. “What do you think they might be?”
“Fear, probably,” I say. “If your relationshiphasrecently shifted, I’m guessing he doesn’t want to lose you or screw anything up. Maybe he didn’t tell you about his work promotion because he was scared it would be a reason you wouldn’t give him a chance.”
Sophie nods, holding my gaze for a long moment before she says, “They offered you a job in Charlotte?”
I nod.
“And it’s a good job?”
“A really good job. Exactly what I want.”
She takes a steadying breath. “Are you going to take it?”
I lean forward, propping my elbows on my knees. “Honestly, Soph, if staying in Serendipity Springs means being with you, I’ll give up the job in a second. That’s how much I want this.”
She shakes her head. “But I wouldn’t want you to give it up for me. Not if it’s something you want.”
“You’resomething I want,” I say. “That matters too.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?” she asks, her voice small.
“Of course I was. I wanted to tell you tonight. Up until last night, I was trying to figure out how to tell you how I feel, and I felt things shifting between us, shifting in a good way, and I didn’t want to screw that up. I didn’t want a potential move to get in the way.”
“But itwillget in the way, won’t it? You can’t give up the job for me, Peter. I won’t let you.”
I sink back into the couch. “I have to be honest,” I say, pressing a hand to my forehead. “When you came out here, this isn’t what I thought we’d be discussing.”
“I’m not worried about David,” she says, but her words come a little too quickly.
I look at her, lifting an eyebrow, and she winces.
“I’mmostlynot worried about David,” she says.
“You don’t have to apologize if you are,” I say. “I know the flower’s magic is important to you.”
We sit in silence for several moments. I carefully weigh my next words. I don’t want to regret them, but I also don’t see any other path forward.
“Sophie, I don’t want you to have this question hovering over you. If you and I are together, I want you to be sure that a year down the road, or five years down the road, you aren’t wondering if you missed out on the man you were supposed to be with.”
She shakes her head, like she doesn’t like my words any more than I do. “So what do we do?”
“I think…I go to Charlotte this week—I’m supposed to go anyway—and maybe you spend some time with David. Get to know him. See if you feel anything that makes you think the flower might be right.”
She presses her lips together, tears brimming in her eyes. “Why does the thought of that make me so sad?”
“Because we care about each other,” I say. “Because I don’t think either one of us wants to see the other get hurt.”
She lifts her hands and wipes at her tears, then tucks her arms around her middle. “What happens after this week?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll both have a little bit of clarity about what we want.”
She nods. “Maybe David is terrible, and I’ll hate him right from the start.”
“And maybe I’ll hate Charlotte,” I say. “It could be a terrible city.”
She shakes her head. “It’s not a terrible city,” she says.
“I know,” I say. “But it might be a terrible city for me.”
