Finally, I had to ask. "How angry was he? I want to know what I'm walking into."
"I don't think he was really angry," Warrick said slowly. "He just wants to know what's going on, I think. Until he has all the details, he can't make up his mind about anything."
"Yeah. I've been like that when I'm thinking about what courses to choose for fall."
As I paused at a stoplight, I glanced over to see Warrick staring at me strangely. "That can all change right now if you want, Brooke."
"What do you mean?"
"Your education. You don't have to just go to the school that's closest."
I laughed as I drove by the park. "Of course I do."
"No. For robotics, you should be going to Caltech or MIT. You're definitely smart enough to get into either of them."
"They're much more expensive. I couldn't live at home for free."
Glancing over, I saw he was blinking rapidly as he stared into space. "I have money. Don't worry about that."
I slowed down as I approached my neighborhood, wondering where he was going with this.
"Beny keeps reminding me that I can hire people to do things. It could be really easy. A great apartment, furniture, everything that you need for school."
My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. Did he actually want to send me away?
"Frank said your education is the most important thing, and I agree. You should be going to the best possible school to pursue your dreams. Especially since I can hire somebody to set up a home right near your classes, and make it so that you don’t have to work any part-time jobs."
He turned to flash me a dazzling grin. "Just focus completely on your studies. Amazing, right?"
Amazing for him, maybe.
I couldn't believe it. We had been so intimate. So connected. Bonded together like one of Warrick's projects. Then in the space of one car ride, he'd decided that my education was more important than us being together?
I was trembling as I pulled into the driveway.
"Brooke? What's wrong?"
Fighting back tears, I tried to appear calm. "Bracing for an awkward conversation with my parents."
"I'm sorry that I can't help with that, but if I went in with you, Frank would raise his voice. That would upset you, right?"
"Right."
It crushed my heart that Warrick didn't get the larger problem at all.
He reached for me, but I escaped the car quickly, walking into the house to get the discussion over with.
My heart sank completely. I thought that I'd finally done something Katrina-worthy. Gotten the chance to pursue my dreams with an incredible boyfriend who had seemed to adore me.
But no. Apparently I was disposable. A mere fling.
Warrick hadn't seemed like the fling type in the slightest. Yet if he was fine with sending me off to a school in another state for months at a time, he clearly didn't want me around permanently.
For someone who perfected connections between machines all day long, he honestly didn't have a clue about how it worked with people. He was a bit odd in so many ways. Perhaps love just wasn't in his mental wiring.
I shouldn’t have gotten so attached so quickly.
I should have known better.