Page 133 of Love & Other Disasters

J.P. straightened and faced the nurse. He’d seen her plenty of times, but her name escaped him.

“Sadly, it is a normal progression for our patients. We can talk about coping strategies, and I can give you some resources to review.”

He didn’t want coping strategies or normal progression. He wanted his mom back, damn it. But instead of screaming, he nodded politely.

They spent the better part of the afternoon reading and talking after leaving the nursing facility with more pamphlets and lists of suggested reading resources. Then Violet, insisted he go for a workout, he didn’t want to, because she’d return to Nashville in two days. But she said it would make him feel more normal, and she was correct. When he returned from the gym, showered and relaxed, Violet sat in the living room with only the fireplace lit.

“Hey,” he said, collapsing on the couch beside her, leaning back, and closing his eyes.

“You can’t go to that interview or take a job in Nashville.”

“What?... Why?” J.P. bolted upright.

“There’s no way you can leave here with your mom like that. It’ll be like what you said about splitting your time before, and how stressful it all was, and I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Are you breaking up with me?” He couldn’t get enough oxygen into his lungs.

“No.”

“But you don’t like the long-distance thing, either.”

“I’ve come to a decision. Instead of you moving to me, why don’t I move here?”

He stared at her. “But Violet, what about you not giving in and compromising what you want any longer?”

“That was short-sighted of me. This isn’t me giving in to keep the peace or to stop an argument or make someone else happy by doing something I don’t want to do.” She stood and paced the room. “I don’t want to go back to Nashville alone. I want to wake up with you every morning and see your face come through the door every night. And it’s really selfish of me to insist that you move, then hold up our whole life together because you can’t. You’re not here for a selfish reason… And you love your job.”

He stood and crossed the room and took her hands. “I love you more than the job. I don’t want you to make any rash decisions you’ll regret—”

“It’s not rash. It’s literally the most obvious decision ever, and I wish I’d seen it the last time I were here or before now… That, I regret.”

“What if I can’t do it,” he whispered.

“Do what?”

“Handle this thing taking my mom. What if I want to run away back to Nashville?”

“You might want to, but you won’t do it. You’re not an asshole. You just like to pretend to be.”

He laughed, rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. “Before you make that decision, it gets quite cold here and snowy.”

“Then, you’ll just have to keep me warm.”

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