Page 1 of No One Wants That (Blitzen Bay)

KIT

“What do you mean you don’t want me to go with you?”

Mateo’s eyes narrow as he reaches for my arm. I pull it away and continue packing. We were supposed to fly to California today to visit my cousin and her boyfriend.

“Kit,” he says, grabbing my shoulder. “We’ve been planning this trip since Noelle and Nash left. Remember? We said until she graduates, they’d visit us in Spain during spring break and we’d go to Blitzen Bay for a week in the summer.”

Noelle’s in law school in L.A. Nash lives about an hour from her in Blitzen Bay—an adorable little town in California’s San Bernardino mountains.

“I remember what we said when we were on the beach in Marbella drinking way too many frozen sangrias,” I say, pausing to take a deep breath, “but things have changed since then.”

“What things?” He takes a step back. “Nothing’s changed.”

“It has, Matty. I wish it hadn’t, but it has.” I grab another swimsuit out of the closet and shove it into my suitcase. “I told you when Elle left that I wanted to move back to the U.S. I miss her. I miss my parents.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “I thought we settled that. We’re visiting the U.S. every summer and every other Christmas—”

“That’s not enough. That’s two weeks there and fifty weeks here.”

He exhales loudly. “I told you I don’t want to live in the United States. You’ve known that from the first day we met. My entire family’s in Madrid.”

“And my entire family’s in the U.S. I’ve lived here for two years. If we want this relationship to work long term, it’s time for you to live abroad.”

He sits on the chair in the corner of the room and puts his head in his hands. “I won’t leave here—not even for you. I love you, Kit, but that’s my bottom line.”

“That’s why I don’t want you to come on this trip,” I say, lifting my suitcase off the bed. “I need time to think.”

He leaps up. “Think about what? About leaving Spain? About leaving me?”

“You know I don’t want to leave you, but I need to do what’s best for me.”

“I thought I was what’s best for you,” he says. “We’ve been dating for two years. We’ve even talked about getting married. Do you want to get married? We already live together, but if you want to make it official, we can do that.”

“How romantic.”

“Kit, come on. That’s not who we are. You’ve said it yourself. We don’t need to be married to make this work.”

“This isn’t about getting married. It’s about my family. You can’t understand. You see your family every week. You see your mom every day. I miss not seeing my family, especially Elle.”

“My family is your family.” He pulls me to his chest and wraps his arms around me tightly. “They love you.”

“And I love them,” I say, melting into his arms for what suddenly feels like the last time, “but it’s not the same.”

“Mateo!” Right on cue, I hear his mom let herself into our flat and yell for her darling first-born.

“Like I said,” I say, pushing him away, “you can’t understand what it’s like to be away from family. And your family definitely can’t understand what’s it like to be away from you. Your mom almost had a heart attack when you told her you were leaving for a week.”

“She’ll be fine while we’re gone,” he says. “It’s only a week. She’ll survive.”

“Mateo!”

“Momma! I heard you! I’ll be there in a second. We’re packing.”

“I brought food for you to take on the plane.” She makes it back to our bedroom and pushes the door open. “Airplane food is no good.”

“How would you know that, Momma?” Mateo says, kissing both of her cheeks. “You’ve never been on an airplane.”

She shrugs and forces two wrapped plates into his hands. I can tell just from the smell that it’s her amazing meatballs.

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