“I know,” she said. “But what if you could work out a compromise with the Rogers Group? They obviously want you. And you said that you would be traveling a lot as part of your jobanyway, right? So what if you asked them if you would be able to base out of here? Maybe even if you were to spend a week at a time in London and the rest of the time here.”
I took a deep breath and considered what she was saying. I didn’t know if they would go for it, but I suspected that they might. While I was in London, I had seen firsthand just how much they wanted me to come on board with them.
“But what about Rylan?” I asked.
I had already arranged with Rylan’s school that he would be able to stay in their dorms for the times that I had to be traveling. It was a hybrid boarding and commuter school, and they had agreed that they would always make room for him if I needed to be gone.
I had already determined that the majority of my traveling would be done when he was on break from school, and he would just go with me, but I knew that on those rare occasions when I would need to leave when he was in school, he would have a place to stay.
There was not an option like that here. And if I was going to suggest being gone for one week a month, I would need a viable option for him. My parents would be available some of the time, but they were retired, and I wanted them to be able to be free to travel and live their own life.
“Well,” she said, “I thought about that. I also thought about how helpful he was around here. I have one room here that is only really fit for a single person. There are not a lot of single travelers who come to B&Bs. For the times when you need to be out of town, he could stay here and help me out, and I could help make sure he got to school and any other activities he had going on.”
“You would do that?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “In a minute.”
I had known that she cared for me, but until that moment, I did not realize how deep her feelings ran.
“And us? What would this mean for us?”
Brenna was silent for a second, but I could hear that she was smiling again.
“It would mean that we would give ourselves a chance to actually be us. We wouldn’t stop it before it began. We would see what would happen.
Of course, we would be careful and be honest and open with each other, because the last thing I would want is for Rylan to get hurt in any of this. But I have a pretty strong feeling that everything will work out fine.”
I smiled.
“You know, for the first time since I started considering this option, I feel fully at peace. Because my gut is also telling me that we will be fine.”
“I like that,” she said.
“Me too.”
“All I can do is ask them, but if they don’t agree to it, it doesn’t mean we need to end us before we begin.”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“I mean that I could arrange to come back here more than just a few times a year.”
“You would do that?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “In a minute.”
She laughed, and the sound of it thrilled me.
“Okay, then,” she said. “That’s good to know.”
“It’s very good to know,” I said. “All right then, I am so happy that you called me.”
“Me too,” she said. “And I am happy that I reached you in time.”
“It was perfect timing,” I said. “Okay. I’m going to go and make the phone calls I need to make. I’ll be in touch with you later.”
“You better be,” she replied and hung up the phone before I had a chance to respond.
I looked out my window and felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
