“Jake…”
“I mean it, Lexi. I love you, and home for me is wherever you are. I don’t give a fuck if that’s here, North Carolina, on the other side of the country, or even across the ocean on an entirely different continent. It doesn’t matter because I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Penny’s probably gonna end up in North Carolina so Mercy can get to know her father,” she says quietly. “Riley will likely follow because of her brothers.”
“You can go too, if that’s what you want,” I tell her. “Blackwood isn’t a bad town. I mean, I obviously know some people there—good people—and Adam owns a tattoo shop. You don’t have to give up everything you’re working so hard for, Lexi. You kinda met him today… he’s easy to get along with. I promise I’ll get you in the shop with him if that’s what you want. I’d move the entire world for you if it were possible.”
“I don’t know what I want,” she admits.
“That’s fine too. Nothing needs to be decided today.”
“I know that, I just…” She sighs. “I’m trying to think about my options. I want to stay with my family, but when I think about it, I feel like I’m not ready to pack up and move out of state. I want to be with them, be there for them, but…”
“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes, baby.”
She’s quiet for a minute, then she shifts, stretching out on the couch. She lays her head in my lap, looking up at me. “You're right. I love them, but I have to think of myself, too. Blossom offered to take me on as an apprentice after swearing she’d never take on another one, and I feel like I owe it to her—and myself—to see it through.”
She’s torn, and I understand.
In the end, she’ll have to make a decision.
Family or herself.
And contrary to what people might say about her, I don’t think Lexi’s ever truly been selfish. From the moment I met her, she’s always put her family first. I think people have misconstrued her protectiveness for something else. I think they misunderstand her completely.
Until recently, she hid the real Lexi from everyone except her sisters. She allows everyone to think she’s a bitch, so they don’t see her insecurities hiding beneath the surface. Her struggles in life, the things she’s been through, make it hard for her to trust and let people get to know her.
I’m honored to be one of the few she lets in completely now.
Hopefully more will come in time.
“Whatever you decide, you have my full support.”
I know she’s only thinking out loud, using me as a sounding board for the thoughts taking up her mental space. I’m trying to be supportive without injecting my opinion too much. She needs to work it out for herself without any outside influence. I don’t mind listening, but this is a decision I can’t, and won’t, make for her. Only she can decide where she goes from here, and I know her family will support her choices.
“What about you?” she asks, flipping the script on me. “What do you plan to do about your business?”
“Well, like I told Adam… I’m gonna take some much-needed time off,” I tell her with a wink. “Once we know what’s going on with everyone, and you’ve decided what you want to do, I’ll do whatever I need to do to relocate my business.”
“No pressure.”
“There isn’t. Not from me,” I tell her, leaning down to kiss her lips. “I mean it when I tell you that it doesn’t matter where we live, Lexi. I can work from anywhere. I’ll say it over and over until you finally accept it.”
She doesn’t reply right away, but when she does, she whispers the sweetest words.
“I love you, Jake.”