Page 205 of The Way I Hate Him
“I’m not going to go back to school.”
He frowns, his brow knitting together. “Why would that make me happier?”
“Because that means I’m staying here . . . with you.”
“Babe, don’t stay here because of me. Whatever happens with school, we can make it work. It’s just one semester.”
“That’s the thing,” I say. “I don’t want to go back. Not because of you but just because I don’t see the purpose. It’s not what I want.”
“What do you want?” he asks, the playfulness vanished from his expression as he listens intently.
“I want to be here in Almond Bay. I want to be close to my family. I want to grow those relationships. I want to help at the store . . . be closer to you.”
“You know I want to be near you, Hattie. But I thought you couldn’t help with the store.”
“I know, but I want to see if there’s a workaround. I mean . . . how can it truly be enforced?”
“Not sure. I have a lawyer if you want her to look at the will. See what can be done.” He pauses for a moment and then says, “But I want you to know that if you went back to school, we would make it work.” His eyes meet mine. “I don’t want you staying here because you’re worried, if that’s the case.”
“I’m not worried,” I say as I play with his shirt.
“Are you lying to me?” he asks.
I look up at him and sigh. “I don’t think I am. I know for sure that I don’t want to go back to school. Maggie was the only reason I’ve been able to make it as far as I did, but she’s not even in school anymore. She’s thriving and doing her own thing. My family is here, doing their own thing, and I just feel like I’m doing something that doesn’t matter to me. Why finish it if it doesn’t matter?” I take a deep breath. “And then there’s you. We could make it all work, but I don’t want to leave this space. I’m comfortable here, and I’ve found myself here. I feel like I know what I want for the first time in a while. And I want you, Hayes. I want to be here with family. I want to be closer to Cassidy, and I’m closer here.”
“Have you told Ryland and Aubree yet?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’m afraid of what they might say. I don’t want them to tell me to go back to school. I feel like we’re in a position where we’re building back our relationship, and if they tell me to return to school, that could ruin everything we’ve built.”
“But you have to talk to them about it, babe. Especially if you want to work at the shop. Unless you want to continue working with me.” He rubs my thighs. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
“I think you and I both know that can’t happen. I’ve barely done anything since we started dating.”
“You barely did anything when we weren’t dating,” he says in a teasing tone.
“Hey!” I poke his stomach, causing him to laugh. “It was a process. You can’t hate on the process.”
“There was no process. It was just you trying to make me crazy with all of your piles. And all I have to say is good job. You made me crazy.”
“It was not that—”
Ding.
The doorbell sounds, and Hayes glances over at the door. “That’s the pizza.”
“Thank God, because I’m starving.”
He lifts me off his lap and stands from the couch, tugging on my hand.
“Grab plates.”
“Or . . . we can just sit on the island and eat pizza from the box.”
He shakes his head as he moves toward the door. “You realize you’re the only person I know who forgoes the island chairs and chooses the counter as their seat.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want anyone else sitting on your counter. I’ve marked my territory.”
“We marked it the other night,” he says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
