Chapter 73 Poppy
“ T hank you so much for everything.” Gesturing to the beautiful store, I see all my sweet seniors who have worked so hard coming together to make this event happen. My eyes fill with tears once more. “This means so much to me and it’s a huge thing for the students. I still can’t believe you did all this in less than a day.”
“Of course, I’m glad they’re happy but I…” Owen leans down until his breath is on my ear. “I did it for you. I’m sorry about how things ended last night.”
“I’m sorry, too, but I actually need to talk to you about that.” It pains me but I pull away from him. I know I’ll feel better once everything is out and in the open. I know that he may still not agree with the plan I’ve concocted in my mind, but if I don’t talk to him about it now I will lose my mind.
I pull his hand and tug him towards the back of the store where things will be a little more private. His eyes are wide and he’s nervously drumming his fingers along his thigh as we walk. My heart beats a little faster too. I’ve been thinking through all of his possible reactions and I just don’t know how this will go.
Once we’re in a quiet space, he turns towards me. “First, can I say something? I know you wanted to figure this out on your own and I want to respect that, but I also don’t want you to make a choice based on what you think I think, rather than what I do, actually, think. Does that make sense?”
I can’t help but let out a small giggle. His rambling when he’s nervous is quickly becoming one of my favorite things about him. “Of course.”
“I want to say that it’s more important for me to be with the person who feels like home to me than to live in a small town.” He pauses and lowers his voice. “I love you. Even if that means living in a new town every other month, I’d choose that every time over losing you.”
His admission warms my heart, he would choose me over the dream that’s been driving him for years to find a job in Honey Cove. “But, what if we didn’t have to choose?”
“What do you mean?” He looks at me quizzically.
“I ran into Steven this morning.” Oof, not the right way to start.
“What does he have to do with this?” He’s still holding my hands, but I can feel his body leaning away from me, suddenly on edge.
“No, sorry, this isn’t about him. He said something that got me thinking and I called Sally because she said she was open to me making the job what I wanted, right?”
He nods, still unsure of where I’m going with this. I’d be confused too . Maybe I’m the rambling one. “I asked her if I could be there on breaks and do work remotely the other parts of the year. It would be part-time, so I can keep teaching if I want. We can live here, but travel during breaks.” Pausing, I look into his eyes for confirmation, encouragement, or disagreement before tentatively adding, “Or, I could travel there by myself too.”
His eyes are still a pool of uncertainty that I can’t read. He smirks a little but I can’t help myself from adding more. “It’s like what you told me your grandma used to say. That things don’t always come how we want them to, but how they’re meant to. It isn’t the perfect job situation for us , but I think this would give us both the things we want.”
I end my last sentence like a question and am about to start adding more before he quiets me with his stare, lifting my chin up to look at him. I’m enveloped into his rich dark eyes that drew me to him that first night at Andi’s wedding and everything else fades away. “I think that sounds absolutely amazing.”
“You’re okay with it, the traveling on breaks? It might mean missing some holidays here.” I want to make sure he fully understands what he’s signing onto before getting my hopes up.
“We can always celebrate on a different schedule with our friends and family here. We can make it work, and it will be fine because we’ll be together.” Brushing a strand of my hair from my face, he touches his lips lightly to my forehead.
A weight falls off my shoulders and I feel lighter than I have since first getting the call from Sally. Without thinking of where we are or who is around us, I throw my arms around his neck and he lifts me up into a kiss as fresh tears fall down my cheeks.
“I knew it,” a voice loudly rings out behind us, shocking us out of our solitary moment together. Turning we both see Cicely standing, hands on her hips, looking at us like she just caught her parents together.
Before we can even respond, we both erupt into laughter. Cicely looks very proud of herself as she turns on her heel and walks back towards the set-up area.
“She’s never going to let that go.”
“No, but she’s a senior and it won’t matter much longer.” He pulls me into him for another hug. Our bodies are tightly against one another and I look up to feel the full heat of his gaze on me before melting into another blissful kiss.