“I know it’s a lot to take in. And a surprise. But looks like I need to pack a bag too.”

“For Las Vegas,” I said slowly, trying to picture Dean in a place so different from where we’d grown up was distorting my brain. That and the elephant in the room—that I’d held this man last night as he endured the lingering side effects of his many concussions from the sport he just agreed to represent on television.

“It’ll be an adjustment, like you said. And I’d rather run the steps at the art museum a thousand fucking times than go tell everyone I’m leaving.” His voice was flat and free of emotion. “But after they get used to it, I think they’ll be proud to see me on TV.”

“Of course they’ll be proud,” I said. “Your parents are proud of everything you do. I guess I’m just…” I bit my bottom lip, fingers tapping against my knee. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but did you tell them what happened to you last night? Does it seem like they care about injuries like you’ve been saying?”

Dean cut his eyes back to the floor, the motion spiking through my complicated emotions. “Harry doesn’t care about shit like that.”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying He doesn’t care about your health?

“The producer made some promises about change I think he’ll keep,” he finished. I caught the dip and sway of his tone, and it concerned me more than anything else.

“So I’m leaving. And you’re leaving,” he said, that dark-and-stormy gaze rising back to mine and pinning me in place. “Looks like we might meet at an airport sometime after all.”

“Yeah, looks like,” I chirped. “Wow. I’m, well, I thought you were going to work with Rowan and run the food program.”

Dean swallowed. “He’ll find someone more suited for that job.”

I’d never seen him stand so still, like he was receding into himself. The past two weeks, I’d witnessed the careful unfurling of this man’s confidence—his smiles coming easily, his limbs loosened, his dry humor and warm affection for the ones he loved. Now he stood straight as a soldier, and I wondered why this meeting had the opposite effect of what working on the park had done.

It was like Dean had an on/off switch like my mother, an observation that had me wanting to retreat like I had so many times as a kid.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Tabitha,” he added. “Most athletes can only dream of retiring and ending up making better money by sitting behind a desk.”