“Hey, sweetheart,” he greeted, walking towards me so he could pick me up and twirl me around before giving me a quick hello kiss. “Damn, I missed you today.”
“Jackson,” I sighed. How the hell was I supposed to be okay with losing the chance to have this in my life every single day? I had always respected Char for how she handled herself being so far away from Shane these last four years, but I never really understood how difficult it had been for her until now. No volume of phone calls, text messages, or Skype calls could possibly make up for not being able to touch Jackson whenever I wanted. We could talk a thousand times a day and I still didn’t think it would be enough.
“No sad faces tonight, Kaylie. I swear to you it will all work out,” he promised, easily reading my thoughts on my face.
How I wished he could make everything okay, but I just didn’t see how it was possible. It was either dance or seeing him every day, and I just couldn’t say no to my dream when it came knocking on my door. I tried to shake off this melancholy feeling so that I could enjoy this time I had with him now instead of wasting it by being sad. I hugged him tight, swallowing down the sudden lump in my throat.
“I know it will, Jackson. No matter what,” I agreed, stepping back to move to the table. Jackson pulled out my chair, helping me get settled before sitting down himself. I couldn’t help but think that it was these little things I might miss the most.
“I hope you’re in the mood for Japanese. I stopped off to grab some carryout on my way over and got your favorites,” he said, dishing food onto my plate from the containers in the middle of the table. He’d gone to the restaurant he’d taken me to for our first date. It was so fucking sweet. He really was pulling out all the stops to make my last days here as special as possible.
“It looks wonderful,” I replied, suddenly feeling famished as I realized I had skipped lunch today. I quickly dug into the meal, enjoying every bite.
We were both fairly quiet while we ate, a comfortable silence hanging between us. We just enjoyed our food and being together, knowing we’d have time to talk once we were done. I appreciated that we could be together like this without it being awkward.
Once we were both full, we quickly cleaned up the mess and moved to the living room to sit on the couch. I was looking forward to some cuddle time with him, just hanging out.
“There’s something we need to talk about,” he said in a serious tone of voice. My smile must have slipped a bit at his words because he sat down and pulled me onto his lap. “It’s not anything bad, Kaylie. In fact, I hope that you think this is something really good.”
I cocked my head, trying to think what he could possibly be talking about but coming up empty. “Okay,” I replied cautiously. “You’ve got my full attention. And there’s something I wanted to discuss with you tonight too.”
He tightened his grip on me, almost like he was afraid I was about to bolt. “I know you’ve been struggling to decide between going to Chicago or New York. When we talked about the different offers, you looked so excited about the idea of dancing in New York. It’s what you’ve always dreamed about, and I want you to go for it.”
“But, Jackson, that would mean I’d be even farther away from you. And the demands on my time would be so much more if I danced there,” I worried, not telling him anything I hadn’t already shared before.
“Not if I come with you,” he argued.
My heart stopped at his words as I literally lost my breath for a moment, positive that I must have heard him wrong. “Come with me?” I repeated.
“I know it sounds crazy, but just hear me out before you say anything,” he pleaded with me. “This thing between us might be pretty new, but I know that you mean a lot to me and I don’t want to risk losing you with the distance that would be between us. It’s not that I don’t believe in our relationship, because I do. But I don’t think it’s worth the gamble when I have too much to lose. You.”
“Jackson,” I whispered, incredibly touched by his words.
“Not done yet,” he said as he touched a fingertip to my lips, stopping me from saying anything else. “And it’s not a bad idea for work either. I already talked to my dad about it, and he’s making some calls to put feelers out with banks where he knows people. I could learn a lot about the industry from working at a bigger bank and bring that knowledge back with me when I’m ready to come back home and work with him in the future.”
“You talked to your dad already?” I gasped, stunned that he’d put so much thought into this plan before talking to me about it.