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“Glad to hear it.”

His fingers found one of her belt loops and hooked inside it as though he wanted to keep her close. “You said real love finds a way to overcome obstacles. So now we need to find that way. Video calling is nice, but I don’t want to go for months without being together.” He hesitated. “I know it’s a big ask, especially since you want to start a business in Lark Springs, but is there any way you can move to LA in a month or two or maybe in say, eighteen days?” That was how long he had until he went back. “You could get a job at a salon there, and I’d be willing to help you with rent…”

“You’re in med school,” she said. “You can’t afford to subsidize my rent.”

“I can’t afford not to. I don’t want some other guy swooping in and taking you away from me.”

It was sweet of him to offer and reassuring that he wanted her close by. All of this was exactly what she’d hoped to hear Jace say. Which made saying the next sentence extra hard. “I would love to move to LA, but even if I could find a job and some roommates to split rent with, my grandmother is here. I can’t leave her.” Marlowe held out her hands helplessly. “She can’t live alone.”

“Couldn’t your parents or sister take care of her for a while?”

Marlowe bit her lip and shook her head. “Their jobs are in Bozeman. They can’t move here.”

“Can your grandmother go and live with one of them?”

“She shot down that idea when my parents suggested it. She called Bozeman a heartless tangle of concrete and asphalt.”

Jace tilted his head back and groaned. He was still holding onto her belt loop, still holding on to her. “How about we convince her that Bozeman is a nice place to live?”

“Good luck with that. You’ve met my grandmother, right?”

“Doesn’t she get along with your parents?”

“They live in a small townhouse with stairs.” If the stairs weren’t the death of Grandma, the crowded house might be.

He clenched his jaw, frustration growing. “Your family ought to be able to come up with another solution. The answer shouldn’t always be that you have to make sacrifices and no one else does.”

And the weight of the situation was back on Marlowe’s shoulders, pressing down. On one hand, he was right. On the other, what would her family think if she abandoned her grandmother so she could live closer to the guy she just started dating? They would call her every variation of impetuous. “After we’ve been together a while, I can broach the subject.” She knew it was a weak solution, but what else could she do?

Jace made a grumbling noise. “How about you broach it after we’ve been dating eighteen more days?”

“I can broach it,” she said. “Although, I can’t make any promises about how that conversation will go … except that they’ll say I’m disloyal for wanting to abandon Grandma.” Marlowe shut her eyes, already imagining the disapproval in their expressions, the judgment.

You’ve been dating him how long? And you’re ready to toss Grandma over to chase after him?

Jace was silent for a moment. “I don’t care if they think you’re disloyal, but I do care if you think it. Would it always bother you if you left Lark Springs and forced your family to find other arrangements for your grandmother?”

Marlowe didn’t answer. She stared at her hands, a lump forming in her throat. “I don’t want her to be unhappy.”

“I guess that means yes, you’d feel disloyal.” He sighed and pressed his lips together. She watched the movement of his chest rising and falling with every deep breath he took.

Was this a dealbreaker for him? How could it not be if she refused to move closer to him? He had a year in LA and then three years of residency somewhere else. Who would want a long-distance relationship through all of that?

He swallowed, resolve settling into his eyes. “If you can’t leave Lark Springs, then I guess we’ll have to rely on video calls and flights. Because I don’t want to give you up again. I was foolish to do it when I was a teenager.”

Her gaze flew to his face to see his expression. He was looking back at her like he knew exactly what he wanted, and it was her. With that look, she knew everything would be okay. He was choosing her, even if it meant they had to be apart.

Marlowe lay her head against his chest, relaxed into him, and breathed in the scent of his cologne. She wanted to remember the feel of his arms around her. She wouldn’t have it much longer. “I’ll ask my family to come for some weekends and stay with Grandma so I can visit.”

From down the hallway, Grandma’s voice said, “That’s your solution? You’re giving up that easily?”

Marlowe’s eyes shot to where Grandma was shuffling back into the room. “You were eavesdropping on us?” It was an accusation, not a question.

Grandma waved off the words. “I said I’d leave you alone to talk. I never said I wouldn’t listen.” She plopped onto the loveseat across from the couch. “I did refuse to move to Bozeman. That’s still the case. If I lived with your parents, they’d do nothing but nag me. I tell you, once people hit forty, they’re insufferably certain of their own advice. But,” she nodded in Marlowe’s direction, “I don’t mind moving to California with you for a year. I could do without all the cold here. And let’s face it, what sort of dive will Marlowe be able to afford in LA without me? If I rent out this place and add that income to what I get from my retirement accounts, we can afford a decent apartment. I’m sure they have senior centers there. It might be nice to play cards with some new blood.”

Marlowe’s breath hitched in her chest. This was a much better solution. “You would move to California so that I could be near Jace?”

Grandma straightened, wiping at invisible lint on her sweater. “You think I’m going to spend my last years knowing I kept my granddaughter from real love? Also, California has beaches. And amusement parks.”