Page 66 of Eligible Best Friend

“I’m sorry.” I rub his back, wishing this night could have been so different. “But you’re on the right track.”

“No, I’m a failed doctor who’s not in his son’s life. I’m even worse than my own dad.”

“Ford, your dad has nothing to do with this,” I say quietly, but it’s as if he doesn’t hear me.

“I need to move.”

“What now?” Does he want a more comfortable chair?

“St. Paul’s far enough away that it’ll make visitation hard. I can’t be an absentee dad. I have to move.”

“But… your job and your mom and…” Me?

He stands and starts pacing, his hands on his hips. I’d appreciate the strong lines of his body if his declaration weren’t so startling and so resolved.

“I can be a paramedic there. They’re always hiring. Mom’s doing well. It’ll be better in the long run. She’ll end up seeing her grandson more if I do this.” He nods as he paces. To the door, turn, then to the window.

“I support what you need to do, but what about us?”

He stops and stares at me as if he’s just realized I’m in the same room. “We can do long distance.”

“Can we?” I don’t want long distance. But I don’t want to lose him.

“Lots of couples do.”

I nod, but something about this situation sits in my stomach like a bowling ball. “But does one of them leave the other to follow his ex to another town?”

His brows drop. “It’s for my son.” He says it slowly, enunciating every word.

“Cass broke up with you because you refused to leave Fargo. Now she’s leaving Fargo and not ten minutes later, you’re leaving too?”

“That first decision cost me a hell of a lot.”

Emotion swells so high in me that I have to stand and burn it off. “Right, again, I understand. All I’m saying is give it a few days to think about.”

“I don’t need a few days. Why don’t you come with me?”

He says it like it’s a simple solution to a complicated problem. “I’m signed up for the paramedic course. I’m locked into three years. My home is in Fargo.” Add in the length of the course and we’re looking at a long long-distance relationship.

He rolls his lower lip between his teeth and considers me. “You won’t leave? Not even for me?”

“It wouldn’t be for you. It’d be for your ex and I’ve already done enough for one guy hung up on his ex.”

“So, what? You’d just start ignoring my messages?”

Low blow. He’s hurting. I’ll give him some leeway, but this problem isn’t going to be solved unless he stays or I leave. As it stands, neither one of us is budging in our decision. “For your information, I made sure Samuel understands we’re through and we’ll always be through.”

He’s quiet for a second before he huffs out a breath. “The night you stand up to him, you put your foot down with me. I thought we were a team.”

“A team doesn’t mean one person drops their entire life for a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

He shoots me a glare that could wither a cactus. “My kid isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

I’ll never win this argument and I don’t know that I should. He needs to do what he has to for his family. I need to do what I have to for me.

My voice shakes as I say, “Why don’t you go then? Since I’m here, I might change my flight and stay with my parents for another day.”

He stares at me for a heartbeat, his expression hard but stricken. “So that’s it then?”

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