Page 45 of Inevitable Love
I’m so ridiculous about this man it’s a wonder I don’t have the wordCRUSHblazing across my forehead. By the time they come back, I’ve gotten myself under control and am back to entering invoices like nothing happened.
I click enter on the last one and save the file, then shift my attention to them. “Invoices are done.”
“Thanks, Mags,” Alice says, reminding me of how much I miss her brother calling me that.
“While I’ve got you both here…” Jackson starts, and a pit forms in my belly. He folds the piece of paper Alice has handed him into little, tiny squares. “I, uh, heard back from the Department of Forestry about the wildland training thing.”
“Oh, cool,” Alice says, while I can’t seem tofind a response. She whips her hand out, encouraging him to continue. “And?”
“I report in three weeks.”
My heart hits my belly as Alice’s eyes grow wide. “Three weeks. But the reunion…”
His hands fly up to stave her off. “Calm down. I told you I’d be here for the reunion. I leave the day after.”
Three weeks? The room spins a little. There’s so much I want to say. Need to say.
I want to beg him to reconsider, to not leave me. And even as I have the thought, I know I would never ask him to give up this dream of his. Still. It hurts. My eyes well with a sudden onslaught of tears.
Between my sister coming to town and my best friend leaving, this is the worst day I’ve had in a long time.
“Mags?” Dammit, he’s using the soft voice on me. I can’t deal with the soft voice. It’s going to break me. I can’t face what I know is coming. Instead of telling him not to go like I want, I swallow my heartache and will tell him what he wants to hear.
Gritting my teeth, I gather up my purse and phone and offer as much of a smile as I can muster. It probably looks more like a grimace, but I try anyway as I stand to escape this hell.
“Congratulations, Jax.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jackson
It’s been two days since I made my announcement to Maggie and Alice. Forty-eight hours that I’ve been on-shift, pulling a double, with Maggie being so utterly fake in her text messages that I’m ready to barge into her house and kiss the ever-loving shit out of her just so I can get a real, honest reaction from her. My sister be damned.
Neither of them knows what the heck is going on. Neither knows how long I have strived for this. Wanted it. Pushed my body to the limit and studied. Neither even bothered to ask what else I have to do, how many more certifications I’ll have to obtain before I’m even able to look for a damn job. It would’ve been nice if they’d have at least fought me on it a little, made me feel like they gave a shit.
I ignore the fact that for at least six months of the year, I’ll be gone. They probably won’t even miss me at all.
The scrape of the patio furniture warns me of company a second before Deputy Chief Mac Collins plops into the chair next to me. It’s another hot, humid day as summerrefuses to relinquish its hold, even in late September. The only reason I’m out here suffering the heat is because I hoped he’d leave without having to have this conversation. By now, my resignation should have reached his desk.
He passes me a bottle of ice-cold water. “Talk to me.”
I twist the cap off and take a long pull. “I’m guessing you got my letter. Not much else to say.” I don’t owe this dickhead anything, and I resent him. He makes me question everything I ever thought about myself. I don’t like it.
He crosses an ankle over his knee and settles into his chair like he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Fuck it. I’m out. I push out of the chair.
“Sit,” he barks in that low, gravelly voice, and god dammit, my legs are folding under the weight of that command. I drop back into the chair and wait, elbows to knees, ready to bolt the second he dismisses me. “Talk.”
“I got accepted to a wildland training program.” Fuck, it’s hard to speak around this knot in my throat.
He nods. “Where?”
“California.”
He whistles low. “Long way from home.”
“Yes, sir.”
