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“You think you can outsmart me? Bring it on, buddy.”
“I doubt very much I can outsmart you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.”
We sit at one of the tables until Mariah calls Blaze’s name. I bring the cardboard cupholder with the four drinks in it back to the table.
“You got time to hang out for a few minutes?” I ask as I sit down again.
Blaze glances at the clock that hangs over the front counter. “Nah, I’d better run. I have an interview—” She stops short.
“Who are you interviewing?” I know she’s had to cut back on staff because of her budget, so I’d be surprised if she’s hiring someone. Maybe she’s interviewing a volunteer. She doesn’t answer. It takes a moment for me to realize that the look on her face is a cross between guilty and embarrassed. “Babe, what’s wrong?”
“The interview is for me,” she admits. “I’ve applied for some jobs, and I have a video call with one of them this morning.”
It’s the first time she’s mentioned it, but the town hasn’t treated her fairly, and North Falls has a relatively big library system. With her experience, I bet she could get a job there without any problem.
“I’ve heard good things about the North Falls library system. Is that where you’re looking?”
She bites her lip. Ordinarily, I’d find it sexy, but I have a sudden, unpleasant feeling I’m not going to like what she says next. “Actually… I’ve applied to some positions out of state.”
“Oh.” I absorb this. “How far out of state?”
She doesn’t quite meet my eyes. “Illinois, Louisiana… and a few other places.”
“Well, damn.” I take another sip of my coffee to give myself time to think but I don’t really taste it. “That’s pretty far out of state.”
“Yeah. I guess it is.”
“Have you gotten any responses?”
“I’ve had a few preliminary interviews.”
“How many is a few?”
She waits a beat then answers in a rush. “This is my fourth online interview. I have another one next week.”
“Okay…” It takes a moment for all this to sink into my brain. “That’s a lot of interviews. How long have you been looking for a new job?”
I don’t like that I’m starting to sound like an interrogator, but I have a sick feeling about this and I need to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.
“Since around the time I met you,” she admits.
Silence, thick enough to cut with a knife, settles over us. Blaze, looking uncharacteristically awkward, fiddles with a napkin and doesn’t make eye contact.
We’ve spent virtually every non-working moment together since the Fourth of July. We’ve been in and out of bed non-stop, but it’s not just the sex. It’s also been talking and laughing, dog-walking and Netflix bingeing, hiking, barbequing, and strategizing about Scarlett. I’ve met her family. I’ve met her friends.
And in all that time, it didn’t occur to her to even mention that she was seriously thinking about getting a job in another time zone?
Maybe I should leave it alone, but I can’t. I keep my voice steady in an effort to rein in the anger that’s rising to the surface. “You know, I’m a little surprised that you never mentioned this. Given that we’ve been hanging out together pretty much nonstop since the Fourth of July.”
Her eyes drop again. “I know. Sorry. I guess I should have said something.”
“You guess?”
How wrong did I get this? I was fine with taking things slow, but I thought we were on the same page at least about having a common destination, that maybe after things were decided about the Addison, we could go out on dates and be a regular couple and see where things go.
This time, she looks up at the pressed tin ceiling. “Well, I don’t know! I mean, it’s all up in the air. I don’t want to leave. If the library gets the Addison, I’ll stay—”
The words hit me like a slap. “Oh, is that what it will take to get you to stay? The Addison? You won’t leave if I concede, is what you’re saying?”
