“I know that she loved you and she’d want you to be happy. She wouldn’t want you giving up your dream for hers.” He reaches across the table and holds my hand in his. “You know she was considering selling the store; maybe it’s time you let yourself explore the idea as well.”

“Sure, maybe she talked to Connor, but we don’t know if she was going to sell or not. Maybe you’re fine making huge decisions at the drop of a hat, but I’m not. That’s not something I’m comfortable doing without all of the information, and for what?” I yank my hand out of his grasp. “For a guy who thinks it would be fun to go on an adventure?”

The thing with me is that I don’t lose my temper often. I get frustrated, sure. Road rage, often. But for me to truly speak without thinking? It takes a lot.

And I usually regret it.

Vaguely, I notice a change in his posture, in the way he’s looking at me. But I’m too far gone. I’m in the zone and I can’t stop now.

“Your book bucket list, or whatever it was, was fun. I’ve had fun going out and showing you around. I can admit that I got lost in it too. But the truth is, we’re two completely different people. You live your life with your head in the clouds, where a happily ever after is a viable option. Not all of us have that privilege . . . I don’t have that privilege. I can’t disappoint my grandma the second something exciting comes along.”

I’ve been too busy enjoying myself to accept that there’s no way something like this could last. We’re too different. But now that I know, I can’t keep pretending I don’t. I just wish I realized it when we weren’t six hours from home.

Jasper sits across from me, staring at me like I’m a stranger. His face is a mask and his usually expressive eyes have shutters over them. Part of me wants him to say something, to tell me he agrees and this was a silly plan that had no longevity in the first place.

Another part of me, though—a part I don’t care to admit to—wants him to tell me I’m wrong. It wants him to fight for me like no other man ever has.

Which might be why when he opens his mouth, I let hope stave off my smarter, more reliable emotions.

“Alice Young would not be disappointed.”

His words are so quiet that for a moment, I think I’ve hallucinated them.

The restaurant fades around me and my vision tunnel focuses on Jasper. “What did you just say?”