But instead, he said, “You don’t have to give me anything, Paige.”
She frowned slightly. “But that’s not how relationships work, right? You give and take.”
“Sure. But just having you here is giving me a lot.”
She gave him a sweet smile. “I’m glad. And being here has given me a lot too.”
“I’m glad.” He was. Even if it was going to take her away from him.
She nodded, “And I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“I got a call earlier today from my friend Piper’s boyfriend, Ollie.”
“Everything okay at home?”
“Yes. It’s really good.” Her smile grew. “Ollie is throwing Piper a surprise wedding.”
“A surprise wedding?”
“Yep. Like a surprise party, but with getting married.”
Wow. That was ballsy. That was Landry family level grand gesture.
“Is Piper going to like that?” he asked.
“Yes.” Paige laughed. “From Ollie, yes. Because it’s completely in character for him. And because it might be the only way to be sure he remembers to show up to their wedding and be on time.”
Mitch shook his head. “Piper doesn’t care about planning her own wedding or anything?”
“Nope. Well, I mean, she’s a planner. She’s great at it. But she’s all in on things like this when it has to do with Ollie being creative and following his heart. She’ll love it. And they talked about getting married already. She said yes. She just doesn’t know that he’s going to set the actual ceremony up as a surprise.”
The truth hit Mitch all at once. “You’re going home.”
Paige nodded. “Yes. I really want to be there. I’ve helped him with a few plans from a distance, but if I can get there the day before, I can help him pull it together.”
“You really are turning into a wedding planner.” Mitch couldn’t quite summon a smile, though that was beautifully ironic.
She grinned. “I am. But this one is simple. They’re going to do it at the campground that they’ve built together. Josie is covering the cake, of course. And Ollie is a millionaire. He can throw money at this to get catering and travel and whatever is needed even last minute.” She gave a happy sigh. “I just want to be there.”
Mitch swallowed hard. This was great. She needed to go home. She needed family time. She needed to have these talks with her mom and everyone. And she needed time to be there with them with these new realizations about them and their expectations, without feeling all the pressures she’d felt when she’d left Appleby.
“When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow.”
He choked slightly. “Tomorrow?”
She nodded. “He’s able to get her family there with the private jet. I don’t even know if his parents are going to come. But all of his and her best friends are already there. Except me. So, it can easily be on a random Tuesday.” She grinned.
“Okay.” Mitch wanted it to be okay. He knew he should be okay with it.
Piper was one of her best friends. Of course, she needed to be there for her wedding. Of course, she did.
And then she needed to stay and make things right with her mom.
But damn, he couldn’t deny his chest was tight, and he had a horrible feeling of she’s not coming back.
“I want you to go with me.”
Mitch took a deep breath. “I… can’t.”
“I know it’s short notice, and I know that could be a little bit of a problem, but surely we can figure it out? The others can help pitch in until we get back, right?”
Sure. Probably. Maybe. That wasn’t the issue.
“I don’t think I should go, Paige.”
She blinked at him. “Oh. Why?”
“You need time back home by yourself. You need to not bring the guy you took off to live with out-of-the-blue two and a half months ago if you’re going to have a heart-to-heart with your mom about what you really want and how you don’t want to be serious with anyone and make any promises.”
Mitch’s chest got tighter as he looked at the stunned look on Paige’s face.
“I thought you’d want to come.” Her hand dropped away from his neck.
“I mean, it would be fun. We could party at the wedding reception and everything. But there’s more you need to do.”
“More than have fun and party,” she said. Then she pressed her lips together and nodded. “Right. I guess that’s true.”
Mitch steeled himself against grabbing her in a huge hug and reassuring her that he did not think that all they did together was have fun and party. This was more than that. On his side for sure. And he thought on her side as well. But right now, she needed to concentrate on her family and home and helping them understand what she wanted and needed.
“So, you go to the wedding and…whatever. Just give me a call at some point, okay?”
“Call?” she repeated. “At some point?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Or text.” He could be cool about this.
“I can call every night,” she said. “I won’t be gone that long anyway.”
But he shook his head quickly. “Don’t worry about it. Just do what you need to do. However long it takes.”
That was exactly how he should feel about this. That was how a casual friends-with-benefits thing would feel.
He’d messed this up so badly.
“Mitch—”
“No promises, okay?” he said quickly. “Let’s not do that.”
Because, honestly, if she did get home and realized that’s where she wanted to be after this break, he really didn’t want to be on the other end of a broken promise. That would hurt a lot more than if he just let her go, and she just went, and they decided to figure out what came next later.
Paige swallowed. Then said, “I want to start making some promises, Mitch.”
His heart beat hard, but he made himself say, “After you’re home. After you have a chance to see how things are there. Okay? Not before. You can’t make any promises before you know how things are going to be there now.”
“I’ve always been worried about letting people down and disappointing people or breaking their hearts when I couldn’t do or be what they wanted. But I think I can communicate better about what I can give and what I want and what my boundaries are. And I want people to depend on me. I want people to ask me for things. And even if it’s more than I’ve given before or think I can give, I want to try. Because I think trying matters, and the right people understand that.”
God, he really was in love with her.
She’d grown and figured things out and started to believe in herself and in how she could take care of people and love them. And she realized she wanted to do all of that.
He still had to send her home without her making him any promises.
Even more now. Because now, if she made him a promise to come back or said she wanted more of a relationship and that she wanted to talk about the future, and then something in Appleby changed her mind, she would still try to keep that promise.
He wanted her to go, to be this new, more confident person back in Appleby, and then decide what she wanted from him. If anything.