Page 87 of Falling

Seth’s eyebrows made a break for his hairline as he sipped his drink.

I wiped down the bar while I waited for him to swallow.

“What job? Where?”

“UChicago. Academic librarian. He called it a dream job.”

I had no reason to doubt Miles when he said that. He’d hated working in a public library when he’d first arrived in Otter Bay. Then, he’d had to pull out all stops to save the damn thing. Public librarianship hadn’t exactly made a great impression on him.

Seth—miracle of miracles—didn’t say anything. He stared at me with his mouth hanging a quarter-inch open, thumb stroking the side of his glass.

I found a tap to polish that conveniently allowed me to turn a quarter away from him.

“He can’t,” Seth said. “His contract⁠—”

“You’re not going to stop him,” I interrupted, turning back to Seth. “I’m serious. Dream job. You’re not going to stop him from taking his dream job.”

“But… is this finalized? Has he signed anything? Because with the budget increase we can definitely offer a raise—should offer a raise, really, given how ridiculously we were underpaying to begin with, and⁠—”

“It’s not about the money,” I interrupted again. I was sure of that. Miles wasn’t mercenary at all. I got the impression that, if he could, he would’ve worked for free. He loved being a librarian, and he was good at it.

He deserved the dream job.

“Well of course it’s not, or he wouldn’t have come here in the first place,” Seth said. “We can⁠—”

“Offer him a job at a prestigious university? A job he’s specifically qualified for, the one he wants to do?” I asked, brow raised as I glanced at Seth.

The way his shoulders slumped might have been satisfying if I’d been winning an argument I actually wanted to win. As it was, it only made me feel worse.

Seth turned his glass around on the bar.

“It’s not finalized,” I admitted. I didn’t want Miles getting in any trouble, and I hadn’t read his contract.

I would. I’d get him out of it, even. If he wanted to go, I wasn’t about to let a contract stop him.

“The… HR rep, I guess, is coming back tomorrow. Miles doesn’t seem sure she’ll offer him the job, but I’m sure. Look what he accomplished here.”

“He’s good at what he does. Better than he thinks he is,” Seth agreed. “I just thought… I mean, the way he looks at you. I wouldn’t have thought he’d leave for money, but I would’ve thought he’d stay for you.”

I snorted. “You’ve got a rose-tinted impression of me.”

“You have a… what’s the opposite of rose-tinted?” Seth asked, taking out his phone.

I waited. After a few taps and a moment’s pause, he wrinkled his nose.

“Lime green?” he asked. The phone, I assumed, since he wouldn’t have been asking me a question about color. “Well, that’s not gonna make sense because lime green is a pretty color. You have like, eclipse glasses on when it comes to yourself. You don’t see how incredible you are.”

My lips twitched despite everything. If nothing else, I knew Seth loved me.

Like I’d said a hundred times, I had enough. I was surrounded by people who loved me, who I loved.

More than that, I’d gotten to love Miles. That wasn’t nothing, and it wasn’t wasted. It’d been a privilege to know him.

“Have you told him?” Seth asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“That I’m sure he’ll get the job?” I frowned, unsure I had. Maybe I ought to have been more supportive. I wished now that I hadn’t left the way I had, I’d just been so overwhelmed by the feeling of the world crumbling under my feet that I’d stumbled through making an excuse to leave. I didn’t even remember now what it was.

“That you’re in love with him,” Seth corrected.