Page 50 of Charmed By the Next-Door Neighbor

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He nods and I pull out my phone.

My mother answers on the second ring. "Claire? Did you decide to come to breakfast?"

"No, Mom. I'm not coming."

"What? Why not?"

"Because we have plans, and I don't want to."

Silence. Then: "Excuse me?"

"I don't want to come to breakfast. I'm staying with Nash today. You knew that."

"You're—" I can hear her taking a breath, controlling herself. "Claire, we drove all the way out here to see you."

"I know. And you did see me. At dinner last night."

"That's not the same and you know it. We wanted to talk to you. Just the three of us."

"You mean you wanted to convince me to move back to the city."

More silence.

"That's what I thought," I say. "Mom, I'm not changing my mind. About any of it. I'm staying in Blackwater Falls. I'm staying with Nash. And I need you to accept that."

"Claire—" my father's voice now, he must have picked up the phone. "We're just concerned. You barely know this man."

"I know him well enough."

"Do you? Because from where we're sitting, this all seems very sudden."

"Maybe it is sudden. But it's my choice to make."

"We're not trying to control you," my mother says, though her voice suggests otherwise. "We're trying to protect you."

"I don't need protecting. I need you to trust that I can make my own decisions."

Nash reaches across the table and takes my hand. I squeeze it.

"Put him on the phone," my father says.

"Dad—"

"Put him on the phone, Claire."

I look at Nash. He holds out his hand for the phone.

"You don't have to—" I start.

"I know."

I hand him the phone.

"Mr. Taylor," Nash says calmly. He listens for a moment. "Yes sir." Another pause. "I understand your concerns, sir, but Claire is an adult. She makes her own choices."

I can hear my father's raised voice through the phone but can't make out the words.

Nash's expression doesn't change. "With respect, sir, I'm not going anywhere. And neither is she."

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