Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Max’s acceptance letter shook in my hands. Los Angeles was far, but this was another world.
“Crazy, right?” Max sat next to me on the bench outside of the casita, a huge grin on his face.
“Not crazy,” I said, nudging him with a halfhearted smile. “Of course they want you.”
I thought he was coming over today to…what? Talk about last night? I dreaded the conversation as much as I yearned for it. I’d wanted to kiss him so badly, but I knew it was a bad idea. Wasn’t it?
But, no. Max ran over to my house breathless for another reason.
I scanned the paper again. World-class professors. Opportunities he could never find in Harlow, not even in California. And most importantly, a full scholarship. He wouldn’t be indebted to his parents—and he’d probably like the distance from them.
My heart pinched, but I smiled through it.
“What about…” I looked for the paragraph. “The summer institute. That starts—” I swallowed. “It’s like two weeks away.”
“It sounds interesting.” He shrugged, taking the paper back. “I’d meet people in the program, get some extra training. The visiting instructors sound cool, too.”
His eyes lit up the more he talked about the pre-college program offered only to selected rising freshmen. An opportunity of a lifetime that he would only have this summer. He needed to decide, and soon.
“I don’t know, though.” He scratched the back of his head, his attention flicking to me. “It’s not a requirement.”
“You’re not actually considering not doing this, are you?”
“I got in last minute. They won’t hold it against me for wanting to keep my summer plans.”
“What plans?” As far as I knew, he wanted to get as many shifts at the thrift store as he could to save up for school.
Max shrugged again, his cheeks turning red. “I kinda thought it would give me more time here. We could hang out and stuff.”
Oh.
He’d pass up this incredible opportunity for a few months with me, but that wasn’t fair to him, or to me.
At the end of August, what would he do? He’d still go to Dublin, and that departure would hurt even more after a perfect summer together.
Or maybe he’d change his mind. That turned my stomach.
When someone gives something up in a relationship, bitterness bubbles up—Mom and Dad were living proof.
I couldn’t do that with Max—be the person who dims his life and goals. I shouldn’t have ever let prom night go as far as it did.
“What d’you think?” he asked, his knee bumping into mine.
With tears burning, I smiled. “I think you’d be a fool not to go.”