She looked hurt, and I winced.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I quickly said. “It’s just a lot of traveling for not a lot of reward. I want tobewith you, Erica.”
“If you want to be with me, then cancel your plans for the next few months,” Erica said simply. “Then you can stay here until everything with the house is done.”
Cancel Jay Leno? Are you kidding me?
“My schedule is planned out a year in advance,” I said. “I have responsibilities. I already canceled two events this month so I could fly to Columbus and tell you how I feel. I can’t put my life and career on hold indefinitely.”
I immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say. Fire flashed in Erica’s eyes and her lips tightened like she had bit into a lemon. “I’m sorry I’m such an inconvenience to you.”
I should have apologized. I should have taken her in my arms and hugged her, and told her we would figure out where to go from here. But I was pissed that she wasn’t respecting my responsibilities back home.
“You aren’t an inconvenience, Erica,” I said. “But if you make me stay longer than another week, then you would be one.”
She turned away from me. “Make youstay? Sounds like I am an inconvenience. Glad we got that out of the way.”
“You’re being unreasonable. All I’m saying is that you should be tying things up here rather than dragging it out.”
Erica’s nostrils flared angrily. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a lot going on right now. I’m still working double-shifts at the brewery while trying to get my new business off the ground. It’s not like I can sit around making YouTube videos for a living.”
The comment stung like a dagger to my chest. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m not as flexible as you,” she replied curtly. “Everything I do revolves around my work schedule. You’re self-employed, so you canchoosewhen to work. Your channel is so successful you could take off three months if you wanted. You don’thaveto go back to Portland next week.”
“It’s not that simple,” I growled, “and I don’t appreciate you casually dismissing all of my responsibilities. I can’t just drop them all at the drop of a hat.”
“So you’ll cancel a freakingengagement, but you won’t cancel a car show?”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Are you kidding?”
The flames of our argument were flaring higher. Neither of us were going to back down, and both of our voices rose with every sentence.
Which is why we never heard the front door open.
39
Erica
If Hunter had suggested I move to Portland with him at the end of summer, I would have been excited. Heck, I would have beenelatedthat he wanted me to go back with him. We’d only had our first real date yesterday, and we were already talking about moving in together on a permanent basis. It felt good to be wanted like that.
But I couldn’t believe Hunter expected me to just pack up and move to Portland with himnext week. Like I didn’t have enough chaos in my life right now. Between working at the brewery, gettingYours Forever Gemstonesup and running, and sneaking kisses with Hunter, I felt like I didn’t have time for anything else. Let alone the monumental task of going through my family’s things and deciding what to keep, and what to sell.
To say nothing of theemotionaltoll it would take.
And then, to learn that Hunter’s schedule was packed for the next three months and I wouldn’t get to see him? It was devastating. I knew I reacted poorly to the discussion, but could you blame me?
I thought he and I were just gettingstarted.
“I just don’t understand,” I said while we sat on the couch, still nude from making love. “I thought the point of being self-employed was that you had a lot more freedom.”
Hunter rolled his eyes at me. Heactually rolled his eyes at me.“Some freedom, sure. But there’s a lot of pressure. I constantly feel like I have to be putting out new videos and going to events to keep my channel fresh. If I go three weeks without releasing a new video, the number of views I get drops fast.”
“Then do videos here,” I insisted. “Like what you’re doing with the Mustang.”
“You’re not hearing me,” he said, exasperated. “I have eventsscheduledback home. I can’t just call Jay Leno and cancel.”
“Okay, then cancel everythingbutJay Leno. Work with me, here. Find a way to stay.”