And that was all she needed to know exactly what the next step should be.
Emma entered the house through the kitchen door in the back. She didn’t see Dylan, but she was smiling as she looked around the space where someone had drawn out the kitchen floor plan in florescent paint. She noticed Dylan walk in from the hallway in her peripheral vision but didn’t look up from the floor when she said, “This is amazing. Is this whole area an island? I never thought you would be able to fit an island this size in the kitchen.”
“I can’t. I have to build out the kitchen three more feet.”
Something in Dylan’s voice drew her attention. And as soon as she saw his expression, a chill seized her gut.
“I got the idea from the Pinterest board,” he said, voice and gaze flat. “All your kitchen posts had a common theme of a very large center island, and I wanted to give you everything you wanted. So I’m building out the kitchen three feet that way,” he gestured toward the other side of the house, “and you’ll get your island. But I’m not sure it matters anymore. You can’t enjoy a large center island in Nashville when you’re in Somalia.”
Heat burned away the chill in her stomach. Emma’s mouth dropped open, and confusion muddied her mind. No one knew about the Somalia trip except Darla, Maizey, and her boss. She hadn’t even told her parents.
“How did you hear about Somalia?”
“So you’re going? You’ve been planning to leave all this time?”
Emma crossed her arms and took a deliberate breath. After walking into the house with a sense of relief and hope, his demeanor felt like an attack. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I was looking through the Pinterest board for ideas to make this incredible kitchen you wanted, and an email popped up on the screen from someone at your hospital.”
Emma had seen the email as well on her phone earlier in the day, but she hadn’t considered Dylan might see it. She imagined him reading the message and experienced a pinch of hurt for the shock it must have caused him. She couldn’t care less about him reading her email; she didn’t have anything to hide. Or at least she hadn’t when she’d given him the password to her tablet.
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked.
“I was going to tell you once I made a decision.”
“Without talking to me about it? Is this payback for me taking a job with the network here without telling you? Because I took that job to stay with you, not get away from you.”
“No. You don’t get to do that. You took that job because you want to stay in the States. I may have been a small part of the reason, but you also want to stay for your family. You want to stay because this is your home and your work overseas is done for now. And it’s fine. It’s good. It’s the right thing for you. I’m glad you’re staying. You’ve been gone too long and your family needs you here now. You’ve lived your dreams.”
That was when the full reality of the situation hit her. She’d been planning on ditching her dre
ams for a man. A man who’d selfishly put himself first for nearly a decade. She was letting her love for him stunt her life. Her growth. Her happiness. Again.
“I didn’t tell you because I needed to make this decision on my own.” She took a deep breath and acknowledged the feelings she’d been repressing. “This is my chance. This opportunity is perfect for me. It defers my school loans until the house is finished and sold while also giving me a safe, immediate way to go overseas and help people who are suffering. I really want this. I’ve worked so damn hard to get here.”
He stepped forward and gripped her biceps, his gaze sliding from anger to pain. “I get that, and I want this for you too. But if you just wait two years and work at Vanderbilt like we talked about, then we could do it together, just like we always wanted.”
“It will never be just like we always wanted.” The reality was a splash of icy water. “You went on with your dreams without me. You can’t just change your mind and pop up and expect me to fall into line. I’m not a kid anymore, and I have my own life. One I built without you. You made that decision, and I had no control over it. But I do have control over this one, and I’m not going to let you take that from me.”
Then she made the biggest, most important decision she’d made since she’d left Germany without him. “I’m going.”
21
Emma’s chest tightened with every passing mile. Now, as Maizey pulled to the curb at the United terminal at the Nashville International Airport, Emma could barely breathe.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep.” Emma met Maizey’s question with an overenthusiastic response. “I’m great.”
She hadn’t spoken to Dylan since she walked out of her aunt’s house three days ago. Not a phone call, not a voice message, not a single text. She hadn’t expected him to chase after her, but given his diligence over the last month, she hadn’t expected radio silence either.
He’d given up.
Again.
She should be glad. It reinforced her decision to leave. But nothing about leaving Dylan felt right.
“You look nervous as hell,” Maizey said.