Page 98 of Irresistibly Us
My dad rolls his eyes, but it’s for form. They’re soft at the corners, and I can see the love he has there for Liv and Brian. No one loves harder than Gabe Sullivan, and I feel every ounce of that love when he leans down and wraps his arms around me, then settles on the arm of my chair. “What’s up, Soph?”
I shrug, settling deeper into the cushions, letting the squashy warmth comfort me. “I was in the neighborhood and felt like stopping by.”
My dad laughs. “I love you, and I’m always happy to see you,but it’s noon on a Thursday. You never aren’t in your office at noon on Thursdays, and your face is telling me you have many, many things on your mind. So spill, Soph. What’s going on?”
Fuck my expressive face right to hell.
“What isn’t going on?” I mutter, taking a long sip of my drink.
“Does this have anything to do with Tyler?” Liv asks with a wicked grin. “I heard it through the grapevine that things were getting…hot and heavy in Julie and Asher’s backyard the other night.”
“What grapevine?” I ask, knowing exactly what grapevine. No one in this family can keep a secret for shit. It’s a giant, delightful game of telephone.
My dad grins. “The one where Julie called your mom thirty seconds after she saw you and Tyler kissing in her backyard.”
“Fuck yeah, it’s about time!” Brian says with a massive smile. “We’ve only all been waiting for this for a hundred years.”
Olivia elbows him in the side. “Things happen in their own time, pal of mine. And if I’m not mistaken, you did some serious pining of your own for a few years before you got the girl.”
“Sure did,” he says, his smile softening as he leans down and kisses Olivia’s shoulder. “But I got her. So, what about you, Soph? Did you get your man?”
I grin, a little thrill running through me because fuck yeah. My man. “I so completely did.”
My dad wraps an arm around me, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head. “Love looks good on you, Soph. The two of you were always going to find your way to each other.” Sitting back up, he studies me. “I’d ask for all the details, but your mom will kill me if she doesn’t get the whole story before I do, and she’s in court today. So save the details for later and tell me the other reason you’re here.”
“What makes you think there’s another reason?” I ask.
My dad snorts, adjusting his glasses. “Because I know you. Spill it, Soph.”
Leaning my head on his shoulder, I gather my thoughts. “I’m at a career crossroads of sorts, and I needed to talk to someone about it.”
My dad runs a hand down my hair, looking at me with his warm brown eyes that have always been my safest place. Then I think of Tyler’s blues and how I can sink directly into them and know I’ve found exactly where I need to be. It makes me feel grateful and lucky and even crazier for considering leaving it all behind. “Tell me.”
So, I do. I tell my dad, Brian, and Olivia all about the job opportunity and the interviews. The request that isn’t a request that I show up at the MasterLab office on April tenth and the possibility that in the not-so-distant future I could be living thousands of miles from everyone I love.
All three of them listen. They don’t say a word as they let me talk, and they hold space for the full breadth of my messy and conflicting thoughts and emotions about the whole thing. I talk and talk until my throat aches and I run out of words, and I take a long, slow breath, chugging the rest of my Dr Pepper, wishing idly it was one of Tyler’s expertly frosty cans with the perfect amount of ice. “So what do I do?” I finish. “I’m going to need someone to tell me because I have no clue.”
My dad laughs, taking my hand and squeezing. “First of all, I’m so fucking proud of you, Soph. CEO of MasterLabs is a massive opportunity. I wouldn’t be a dad if I didn’t say I hate the idea of you moving across the country, but as a dad, I also need to say that, if this is what you want, then I want it for you.”
“That’s the thing,” I say, resting my head on the back of the chair. “I’m not sure it’s what I want. I love it here.” I look at my dad and then Brian and Olivia. “This is my place. It’s where my family is. My friends. Tyler.”
Olivia gives me a gentle smile. “You don’t want to leave him.”
I laugh a little. “Of course I don’t. Even the idea of not being together for our birthdays makes my heart hurt. What if we cannever be together for our birthdays again? We just found each other, and now I’m considering leaving? It feels insane.”
My dad shakes his head. “First of all, you didn’t just find each other. You’ve always belonged to each other. It just took you some time to get here. You and Tyler might only be exploring what’s between you now, but it’s been there for years. Your mom and I have been watching it your whole lives. Julie and Asher too. That kind of love doesn’t disappear because you move to a new city. It lives and breathes and grows, Soph, no matter where you are.”
“It did for us,” Brian says, giving Olivia a squeeze. “Liv and I had barely started when she left for Italy. We were apart for six months, and it scared the shit out of me. I thought I was going to lose the love of my life when I had just found her, but something else happened instead.”
“It made us who we are.” Olivia laces her fingers with Brian’s. “We were more in love when I got back from Italy than we were when I left. It didn’t matter that we were apart. Love doesn’t work that way.”
“Your mom and I were apart for ten years,” my dad says quietly, almost painfully, like the idea of being separated from her the way they were hurts him even though they’ve been married for decades, and my heart squeezes because the idea of being away from Tyler hurts me in exactly that same way. “We weren’t together during that time, but I never stopped loving her. Not for one single minute since the day I fell in love with her when we were eighteen. Love grows, Sophie, and yours will too. When it’s right, it’s right, and distance doesn’t mean shit.”
“It’s more than that.” Olivia reaches over and lays a hand on mine. “If this job is what you want, then Tyler is going to want it for you. He’s going to want you to fly, and he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure you can. Like your dad said, when it’s right, it’s right, and you’ll figure it out together.”
I know she’s right. They all are. But I’m just not sure that I want to have to figure it out when I could stay here and haveeverything I want right where I can reach out and touch it every day of my life.
“Talk to him, Sophie,” my dad says, interrupting my thoughts. “Today and tomorrow and every day after that. Talk about everything and make decisions together, and I promise you it will work out.”
