“I’ll be right back with coffee and water,” she says, hustling back to the front of the restaurant with a spring in her step.
“You couldn’t sleep, either?” Danny asks.
“No, there was a moaner in my room,” I say with a shrug. “But it’s okay. I feel rested. I feel great actually. How about you? How are your knuckles?”
Danny studies me for a beat before nodding. “They’re okay, and I feel good. I slept hard until about twenty minutes ago.” He pauses, but I can tell he’s left something unsaid.
“What’s up?” I ask. “You still stressed about last night?”
He tips his chin to the side, the way he does when he’s not sure what to say, before shaking his head. “No, not stressed, just…”
“Just what?” I push, feeling bolder than I have since Danny and I got on the plane. “Spit it out. I can take it. Are you still upset with me for not picking up the phone last week?”
“No.” He tucks his hair behind his ears and studies his own mug of creamy coffee. “I don’t know. Maybe. A little. Something still feels off kilter. Ever since—”
“Okay, I’ve got coffee, water, and a share plate for the lady,” the waitress says, returning with a tray balanced on one arm. “And scrambled eggs with cooked tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and a side of beans, an order of banana pancakes, and a side of bacon for the gentleman.”
She finishes setting the steaming plates of food on the table and stands beaming down at us. “Anything else I can get for you two?”
“No, this is great,” I say. “Thanks so much.”
As she promises to check back in a few minutes with a coffee refill and hurries away, I turn back to Danny with my most determined smile. “Yesterday was a weird day all around, so I think that explains that, but as far as before…”
I take a bracing breath, launching into my next lie with hardly a flicker of guilt in my chest. “I’ve decided to leave school. I dropped out after finals.”
“What?” Danny shakes his head. “But why? I thought you loved the program. And you’ve been doing so great. Like, straight As and everything.”
“I know, and I did like it, but there are a lot of things I don’t love about L.A. and it’s so hard being away from you for so much of the year…” I take a sip of coffee to cover my moment of hesitation while I think of how best to spin this. “I’ve been thinking all semester about what I really want to do with my life and I decided last week that finishing school isn’t it. I want to get started on the future. I’m tired of waiting. I can’t make it through the rest of undergrad, let alone the two years of grad school it would take to get a really good job.”
I add more cream to my coffee and stir it in slow circles to avoid making eye contact. “I would have told you what was happening, but my parents were already riding my ass. Even Mom and you know how easily distracted she is. I was just afraid you’d try to talk me out of it, too.”
Danny blows a long breath out through pursed lips. “I would have. I mean, you’ve worked so hard and you always said management consulting was the perfect career for someone who loves to travel.”
“But so is teaching surf lessons,” I say, looking up from my coffee. “I’m not my dad or Penny. I’ve been buying into the fear they’ve been selling for years, but I don’t need to drive a hundred thousand dollar car or own a mansion on Maui to be happy. All I need is enough to get by…and you.”
He reaches across the table, taking my hand in his, sending a tingling feeling racing up my arm. “You have me, and I have enough to cover all the basics for both of us. I just don’t want you to look back and regret this, or resent me for being the reason you gave up on a dream.”
“Business management consulting was never my dream,” I say, threading my fingers through his, this man who can still make me tingle after all the hell of the past few months.
This conversation started with a lie, but it’s going to end with the truth. “You’re my dream, Danny Cooney. Don’t you know that by now?”
“You’re my dream, too,” he says, lifting my hand to press a kiss to my knuckles.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” I smile even though my eyes are starting to sting. “This trip is going to be amazing. The bad luck is behind us now. I feel it in my gut.”
A smile creeps across his face. “At least we know the chances we’ll get mugged in the car on the way to the river are pretty low.”