“It means that you’re done with college and you’re starting your life. But she’s not, and if there’s one thing Sylvie is good at, it’s sacrificing her own needs to help others. I’m not saying you would mean to do it, but I think you could sidetrack her.”

“I support her getting a degree,” he argued. “I would never want her to give that up.”

“But you’re already talking about sacrificing for her,” Dre pointed out. “Would you go to Chicago if she wasn’t in the picture?”

“But she is.” Rene didn’t like where this conversation was going. He might have preferred an angry Dre to this sympathetic logic.

“Would you go?”

“Yes.” He hated it but it was the truth. “I should spend some time in all of the satellite offices. I’m going to be the CEO one day. I should study the business for the next several years.”

But that would mean leaving her behind. Or . . . he could spend the summer with her, could test it all out, and then if they were happy, he could ask her to marry him. She could see the world with him. Why did she need . . .

“You just figured something out.” Dre pointed his way. “I know that look on your face.”

“I wondered why she needed a degree if I can take care of her.” He hated that he’d even had the thought. She was smart and ambitious, and he could probably convince her to give it all up for him.

“And that is why I’m going to ask you to wait. She is not ready for what you want,” Dre said solemnly. “I know it’s a risk. She could find someone while you’re away. She could get involved in her career and never come back to Papillon. She’s eighteen. You’re in a different place in your life. If this was a casual hookup, I would say go for it. Get it out of both of your systems and move on, but that’s not what’s happening between the two of you. You and Sylvie are serious. If she’s in a relationship with you, you’ll be married within a year and she’ll start having kids. There’s nothing wrong with that if it’s what you both truly want. But she’s always dreamed of working in DC. I have no idea why, but she wants it. So the question is, do you care enough about her to take the risk of letting her follow that dream?”