Page 57 of Undeniable Love
Where the hell did that thought come from?
Quickly averting her eyes, she put her attention back on her pancakes and changed the subject. “I’m sure it was nice to see your brothers today too.”
If he noticed how she was speaking a little faster, he chose to keep it to himself. “They actually got in yesterday and we all had dinner together last night at my mom’s. She made this enormous meal with all our favorites—most of them you would never put together—but she wanted to be fair to everyone.”
Now she looked up and grinned. “Like what?”
“There was a lasagna, a pot roast, and fried chicken, followed by an almost obscene amount of side dishes,” he explained with amusement. “She served it all and said it was made with love, but once we were all eating, she reminded us how we all don’t come home often enough.” He laughed. “The guilt trip was strong, but we all reminded her how much easier it would be if she moved closer to at least one of us.” Then he leaned in and added, “And Noah was the obvious choice.”
That made her laugh. “Seriously? Why Noah?”
“Because he’s the most grounded. He’s got this steady job in Charlotte, Lily owns a dance studio there, and she’s got a huge family that lives close by. It just makes sense. Simon’s got a great place out in California, but he tours and travels a lot so it wouldn’t be right to move Mom all the way across the country and then have her be all alone. She might as well stay here.”
“And what about by you?”
He shrugged. “Wichita is where I am now, but you know I’m thinking about retiring in the next year or so, so…” Another shrug. “Why move her there and then have her move again in a few years?”
Taking another bite of her food, Lucy took a moment to collect her thoughts. After a moment, she asked, “Where do you see yourself going then when you retire? The camp is here, so wouldn’t it make sense for you to live…here?”
“Yeah, I know. I just don’t know if I want to be here in South Creek specifically. There are plenty of options and I’m not sure how involved in the day-to-day operations of the camp I’ll need to be, but I also don’t want to be so far away that the commute is going to suck. But…no one said I have to live here full-time. I could just as easily have a place somewhere else and live here only some of the time.”
“Would you get a place near Noah or Simon?”
“I’m not a West Coast person. I love visiting him, and I always have a good time, but I don’t really see myself living there. Noah’s in a great location and I could definitely see myself having a place there. I know the day is coming when I’m seriously going to have to decide, but I also love my house back in Wichita, so…” He let out a long breath. “There’s a lot to consider.”
“Sounds like it.”
Pausing, he studied her. “What about you, Luce? Is South Creek where you want to be?”
The snort was out before she could stop it. “Are you kidding me? My whole life I’ve dreamed of moving away from here.” Pausing, she figured she owed him a little honesty. “It was one of the major attractions for getting engaged to my ex. Blake offered me a way out of South Creek.”
His eyes went a little wide, but he said nothing.
“Don’t get me wrong; I’m not proud of it and I’m actually a little ashamed that I was willing to just…settle.” She sighed. “People ask me if I’m angry about him cheating on me and having to cancel the wedding—and I was totally pissed in the beginning—but now I know he did us both a favor. We would have been miserable. I just wish I would have done things differently.”
“Like what?”
Another sigh. “Like…not accepted his proposal when I knew I didn’t really love him. There’s no excuse for it. Moving away and uprooting your life and starting over isn’t easy, and I was stupid enough to try to take the easy way out.” Another snort. “Not my finest moment.”
All he did was nod, and he was the one to change the subject this time. “Do we want to look at calendars and schedules while we finish eating, or are we going to watch some TV in bed?”
She grinned. “Just watch TV?”
“Well…we did just have a big meal. We should rest.”
It was hard not to laugh. “We’re not going swimming, Jax. We don’t have to wait an hour.”
He shoveled a huge forkful of pancakes into his mouth and said, “Speak for yourself!”
So they finished eating and talked about what they should watch on the TV after they looked at their calendars. Together they cleaned up the dishes and then Jax took her by the hand and led her out to the living room and tugged her down onto the couch with him.
“Do you ever get Fridays off?” he asked.
“Sometimes. Right now, I’m trying to work as many hours as I can. You know, build up my savings and all that. This house is a rental, but if I’m ever going to leave this town, I need to be a little more financially stable.
“Smart.” Then he glanced around. “I think my phone’s in the bedroom. Let me go get it.”
Nodding, she reached over to the coffee table. “Got mine.”