Teddy’s eyes widened. “Were you planning on telling me that you’re moving to another state?”
“Hopefully moving to another state,” Everett corrected, then realized that was the wrong thing to say. “I thought you knew.”
“How could I have known that?” Teddy asked, her voice growing louder. “I’m sorry I don’t know the location of every children’s entertainment company.”
“Is that . . . a problem?” Everett asked.
“Uh, yeah, Everett,” Teddy said. “It’s almost a nine-hour drive.”
“Much shorter by plane,” he pointed out.
“Oh, my God,” Teddy said, folding herself in half so she was talking to her knees. “You missed dinner. You’re moving. All because of your job. I’ve been here before, and I know how this ends.”
“What are you talking about?” Everett asked. “And also what are you saying? Your voice is very muffled.”
Teddy sat up. “I’ve already dated one guy who treated me like garbage because all he cared about was his job and the prestige of it. And Richard dumped me, Everett, after I spent years bending over backward to help him follow his dream.”
“Hey, I have zero intentions of dumping you,” Everett said. “That’s the furthest thing from my mind, trust me.”
“How are we going to stay together if we’re in different states?” Teddy asked, dragging her hands over her face.
“We don’t have to be in different states,” Everett said slowly. “You can come with me.”
Teddy dropped her hands into her lap and sat completely still. “You think I should move to New York with you?”
“Yes!” Everett grabbed her hands and smiled. “Think about how great it would be. I’m sure we can find you a job on the show—”
“No.”
“No what?” Everett asked.
“No!” Teddy said louder, standing up. “I’m not doing that. I want to visit New York, but I mean visit. On my own terms. And I don’t want to work for you, Everett. I already told you that.”
“Okay, again, it’s not really working for me,” Everett said, standing up to face Teddy.
“And anyway, I’m taking over Colossal Toys, remember? How am I supposed to run a toy store in Columbus if I’m in New York?”
“You decided to take over?” Everett raised his eyebrows. “You never told me that was for certain.”
“Don’t sound so incredulous! Do you think I can’t own a business?”
Everett held up his hands. “Whoa. That is not what I said. I think you can do anything, Teddy. Of course you can own a business if you want to, but you didn’t sound remotely excited when you told me about it. In fact, you kinda sounded like you wanted me to talk you out of it. You’ve spent a lot of time telling me that you wanted to discover what you’re passionate about, and not once did you mention small-business ownership or vintage toys.”
“Well, maybe you don’t know me that well after all. I am just starting to get my life back. I don’t want to give it away to someone,” Teddy said.
Everett looked down at her hands, curled up into fists. “What do you mean . . . you don’t want to give it away to someone?” he asked slowly.
“I mean.” Teddy exhaled, looking everywhere in the room except Everett’s face. “I . . . I like you, Everett. I like everything about you, and I like that you care about your job and that you’re good at it. But I can’t be a sidekick to your dream. I need to find my own.”
“You will find your own!” Everett said, stepping toward her, but Teddy stepped back, finally meeting his eyes.
“Look at us already,” she said. “We’ve been together in person for, what, a few weeks?”
“Thirty-seven days since your first email, which was the moment I fell in love with you, if I’m being honest. That’s the moment I knew you were the girl for me, and I don’t need any more time to know how I feel.”
Teddy bit her lip and one treacherous tear slowly rolled down her face. “I can’t be the girl for someone else. I have to be my own girl.”
Everett shoved his hands in his pockets. He felt precariously close to tears himself. “What are you saying, Theodora?”
She winced. “I think . . . I think we want different things, Everett. It doesn’t matter how much we like each other. It isn’t going to work. What are you going to do, give up your show?”
“Do you want me to?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“No!” Teddy practically shouted, and her voice cracked on the word. “I don’t want you to give up anything that makes you you. That’s what I like about you.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“I think.” She took a deep breath. “I think you should go to New York, and you should be fabulously successful as a nationally syndicated children’s television host, and you should be happy that you get to spend all your time working at a job you love. And I should stay here in Ohio and figure out my own life by myself.”
“You think we should break up,” Everett said flatly.
“That’s another way to put it.”
“No,” Everett said. “Nope. I don’t accept this. We’re not breaking up.”
“Well, unfortunately you aren’t the only one who has a say in this,” Teddy said, a hint of steel in her voice.
And Everett, as much as he wanted to beg and plead and kiss her until she changed her mind and agreed with him—and he was sure she would do it, if only for a little while, if only until the next day—couldn’t make her doubt herself again. He couldn’t be another man who kept her from doing what she wanted.
“Okay,” he said. “But you’re wrong.”
Teddy’s brow furrowed. “About what?”
“I don’t like you, Teddy,” Everett said, taking in every detail of her face. The almost eerie wideness of her eyes. The angles of her high cheeks, slightly flushed. The way her tiny ears poked through her hair. “I’ve never liked you. I’m in love with you, and I have been since the beginning.”
Teddy shook her head as the tears on her cheeks sparkled. “Don’t say that.”
“I’m not going to stop you from doing what you want, but I’m not going to lie to you, either. I love you, Theodora Phillips. And I think you love me, too.”
Teddy smiled at him as she cried, looking like one of those thunderstorms that happened while the sun was shining. He didn’t understand how she could make him feel like this: the pure joy of seeing her mixed with the agony of knowing she was leaving.