MY BOOTS SCRATCH loud against the pavement as I rush toward the front doors of the building. I don’t have to look behind me to know that Mare is following closely behind.
“I don’t understand what we’re doing here,” she says at my back.
I ignore her, pulling the door open and ushering her inside.
She stops. “Answer me,” she demands, her eyes roaming over the store.
Instead of answering her question, I grab her hand and tug on it. I pull her through the aisles until I find what we’re looking for. Mare looks at the shelf hesitantly, looking at it, to me, and then back.
“Cade,” she presses.
I read the words on a little plaque hanging on the shelf: Fiction Bestsellers. I point to it. “One day, you’re going to be on this shelf, Goldie.”
Her eyes soften slightly. When she tries to take a step closer to me, I take a step backward. I can’t be this close to her right now. Not with what I’m about to say. Not with what I have to do. I have to do what’s best for her.
I swallow past the lump in my throat. Since it hit me in the airport that she’s days away from leaving, I’ve thought about what I want to say to her a lot. It’s all I’ve thought about since the moment I hugged my family goodbye.
Mare is leaving too. Mare has to leave to follow her dreams. And I can’t be the guy sending her off in the airport begging her to come back. I can’t be the guy to hold her back.
“Tell me what’s happening,” Mare mutters, glancing over her shoulder at people that shop for books around us.
I sigh, tracing the top of the plaque. “You’re going to make it on these shelves one day. Your books will be everywhere, and you’re going to be this phenomenon. People will fall in love with you and your words because it’s hard not to.”
“Maybe.”
“No. Not maybe. I know it’ll happen. I know you. I know your talent. You’re going to get there, Goldie. You’re capable of achieving every single one of your dreams. But you can’t do that from a small town like Sutten.” My words break with the last sentence. I hate knowing that our lives are on different paths.
I hate knowing the best thing I can do for the woman I’m hopelessly in love with is to let her go.
Mare won’t be the one to end it. It has to be me, and it fucking sucks to know that I have to hurt her.
“Cade, you’re scaring me,” Mare admits. This time, when she takes a step closer to me, I let her. I’m not strong enough to let her go completely. Not yet, not now. “This feels like the end.”
When her arms wrap around my middle, I break. I pull her into me and clutch her to my chest. “You’re going to do the biggest things. Everyone will know your name, and I can’t wait to cheer you on.”
“Be there with me,” she says against my chest.
My eyes close. We’re probably a show for those around us, just innocent bystanders trying to buy books. They don’t know that I’m breaking inside or how much it hurts me to know I can’t be the best for someone who is everything to me.
“You’re meant to go, and I’m meant to stay.”
I grab the back of her head, running my fingers through her hair as she softly cries into my chest. There’s not much I can do but comfort her. I won’t back down on this. I won’t let her sacrifice her dreams for me. And there’s no reality where I can leave the ranch, the one bearing my last name—the one that’s been passed down in my family. So it leaves us with a heartbreaking conclusion.
No matter how perfect this summer was. No matter how perfect we are. A future for the two of us just isn’t possible at the moment.
“It won’t be long until your book sits on this shelf. I can’t fucking wait to read it.”
“No,” she argues. “I don’t care about that. I care about you. About us.”
She pulls away and I cradle her face between my hands. “Remember me when you’re famous?”
Her laugh is sad. Mine is too.
I press my lips to her forehead. “One day you’ll thank me for this, Goldie.”
Mare shakes her head, her hands fisting my T-shirt as she clutches me to her. “We’re not done talking about this. I’m not giving up on us.”
My eyes track over her. There are so many new freckles on her cheeks from the summer sun. I’ve kissed every single one of them. It’s sad to know that any new ones on her face won’t get a greeting from me.
It’s sad to think she’ll have a whole new life that won’t include me in it.
“How about I get you home?” I grab her hand, not able to lose her completely just yet. “You need to finish packing.”
