Page 45 of The Love Ambush
“You can stay on my lap as long as you want. I won’t ever hold it against you.”
She snuggles back against me and, now that she’s not crying, it’s much harder to remember I’m not supposed to be attracted to her right now.
She lets out a long sigh. “I guess I’ve been more stressed than I realized.”
“Raising kids is a ton of work. I’m not surprised you’re stressed.”
“It’s not just that.” She hesitates. “After we walk out of here, can we forget everything that happened, including what I say?”
“I can’t promise to forget, but I promise never to talk about it.”
“I can accept that.” She sits up, so close I can see the flecks of green in her hazel eyes. She scrunches them shut tight. “I can’t believe I’m about to admit this out loud.” She opens them, and determination takes over her puffy expression. “I don’t want to be a nurse.”
She frowns at whatever she sees on my face. “You aren’t surprised. Why aren’t you surprised?”
I try not to smile, but I can’t help it. “Remember when I visited that summer before senior year and took that bet with Brodie?”
She rolls her eyes. “When you built that idiotic skateboard ramp and nearly lost your leg?”
I smirk. “I scraped it up pretty badly, but I was never in danger of losing it.”
“There was a flap of—” she slaps a hand over her mouth and makes a gagging sound just at the memory.
“You threw up in the bushes and demanded your mother call 911 to get me to the hospital before I lost too much blood.”
She huffs. “She wouldn’t even drive you. She made Brodie drive you, and he only took you to urgent care.”
“Which was all I needed. I got like two stitches.”
“Two stitches is a lot, Levi.” She lowers her head and shakes it. “Oh, my God. It was so obvious, wasn’t it? What the hell am I doing?” She looks up, eyes wide. “Do you think everyone knows?”
I shrug. “Only people who’ve ever seen you react to an injury. I know you want to do right by your sisters, but you were an amazing artist. Do you still hope to get back to that some day?”
“I did. I still do. But we need a stable income. I figured nursing was the safest bet. There are always jobs for nurses.”
It makes my chest warm to hear her say what I’d already assumed. I really do know this woman. “That makes sense.” I choose my words carefully. “But now that you know how much you hate nursing, couldn’t you find something else to do?”
Her face crumples for just a moment before she regains control with a wistful smile. “I was actually going to talk to Brodie about that and see what he thinks I should do, but now he wants to stop sending money altogether. He definitely won’t understand me giving up on nursing. Which makes total sense. He deserves to start his life with Daphne without having to worry about us.” She shakes her head. “It’s fine. It just means I need to toughen up and see the nursing program through. I’ve only failed one semester. I can get back in. It’ll be great.”
“Wait, you failed out?” How much has she been holding back? No wonder she’s got knots that contain tears.
She nods. “It’s an incredibly tough program. Lots of people fail out and have to try again.” She chews on her lower lip. “Of course they’re all great at clinicals, and I’m terrible. I mean, I’m fine as long as I don’t have to deal with blood or vomit or anyone in a lot of pain, but…” She drops her head on my shoulder and groans. “I can’t be a nurse. I’d be a terrible nurse.”
“That’s okay. We’ll find something else you’re good at, something that allows you to do your art.”
She sits up, expression determined. “No. I can do this. I can be a nurse if I just get over my squeamishness and accept this is my life now.”
My heart aches for her. “You shouldn’t have to do that.”
“That’s life, Levi. I have two kids depending on me. It’s not about what I want anymore. Both of my parents chose themselves and what they wanted over those kids. They took the easy way out. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to repeat my parents’ mistakes.”
“Gentry, you—”
She presses a finger against my lips. “Nope. We aren’t talking about this anymore. Tell me what’s going on with you? How’s the construction business?”
She hasn’t taken her finger away from my lips, and she’s staring at them with a distracted gleam in her eyes. Gently, I reach up and pull her hand away. “Kind of hard to think about anything but kissing you.”
She’s still staring at my lips. “Really? Do you think about that a lot?”
