Page 70 of The Art of Loving Lacy
“We’ll have to make better travel plans,” he said. “See each other at least once each month.”
“Once a month?” Lacy shot a worried look at him.
“Lace, I travel all the time. You know that. I want to be with you every second, but short of you quitting and traveling with me…”
She turned away.
He’d been afraid to even approach the subject because she’d been adamant about how much she loved her job, but now, he couldn’tnotask.
“Would you consider that? Coming with me? I’d like nothing more than to have you by my side every second—I know you can’t be on the boat while I tag, but every other second.”
Lacy’s arm stiffened. She bit her lower lip, and when she turned to face Dane, it was sadness that he saw, clear and present, in her heavenly eyes.
“It’s okay, Lacy. We’ll figure something out,” he assured her, though he had absolutely no idea how they ever could.
“Can we see each other more often? Once every two or three weeks? I can come to you once each month and you can come to me.”
Her pleading tone pulled at his heart. “We can try, but realistically, going to Maui or even Florida for a weekend can be exhausting if you’re doing it all the time, just like flying from those places to Massachusetts would be.”
“Do you want to see me more often?” she asked.
Dane dropped to one knee and held her hand in his.
“Dane?” Lacy’s other hand flew to her mouth.
“Lacy Snow, I want you by my side every second of every day. I know you promised not to fall in love with me, so will youfriend me?” He smiled, then added, “Will youfriend-with-benefitsme? Forever?”
Lacy laughed. “What does that mean? Like on Facebook?”
Dane stood again and brushed off his slacks. “Come with me. You don’t ever have to admit to falling in love with me. Just live with me. Be with me. Be myfriend-who-can’t-be-in-love-with-meforever.” He was sure they both were way past the friendship pact, but he was afraid a real marriage proposal might scare her off. Still, hope soared through his chest as he thought about the possibilities. “We’d wake up together every day, Lace. Spend our free time knocking around villages or reading, or whatever. I don’t care what we do. I just want you there with me. What do you say?”
Her smile faded, taking Dane’s hope with it.
DANE’S FRIENDSHIP PROPOSAL stole the wind out of Lacy’s lungs. Was he serious? Give up her job and travel with him? What would she do all day? She couldn’t go on the boat with him when he was working. What about all the years she’d worked her butt off for World Geographic? That meant something to her. It meant a heck of a lot to her. She looked at Dane’s hopeful eyes, the way his chest heaved up and down with each excited breath. She wanted to jump into his arms and say,Yes! Yes! I’ll be your friend-who-can’t-be-in-love-with-youforever! But how could she do that?
“I never expected a friend forever proposal,” she said.
“I didn’t expect to give you one,” he admitted. Dane touched her cheek. “A pact is a pact,” he teased.
“Like blood sisters when you cut your palm and mix your blood with your best friend’s,” Lacy joked, but inside she wasn’t laughing. She didn’t know how to navigate their relationship into the future, even though she wanted to do exactly that. “Dane, would you give up your career for me?”
“Come on, Lace. I built an entire foundation from nothing,” he explained.
She nodded. “I know.”
“Think of the life we’d have together. We could go anywhere,” he said.
“As long as there are sharks,” she pointed out.
“Okay, you have a point, but, Lace, the alternative is being together part-time,” he said.
“What if something happened to you? What if I gave up everything and, I don’t know, you get eaten by a shark or something?” Lacy realized the viability of her question, and she clenched her jaw to keep the new worry from taking over.
“Lacy, that’s not going to happen. I told you, my job is less risky than driving down the street.”
“But what if?” she asked. “Then I’d have given up everything, and I’d have no home, no stability. No job.”No Dane? No, just no.She didn’t even want to think about that.
He stepped closer, resting his forehead against hers, just as he’d done after they’d made love. His whisper was a caress to her tumbling heart as it careened out of control toward the edge of a cliff she desperately wanted to avoid.
