Micah fell into a dreamless sleep, not even stirring when Homer came back into the room, hopped up on the bed, and took an available space next to the two of them with a happy doggie sigh.
“I found out I’m rich,” Tessa told Micah excitedly the next morning as they sat at the breakfast table.
Micah looked up from his food, surprised. “What? I thought you just said you’re rich.”
She smiled at him. “Okay, I’m not rich like you are, but I have money.”
He listened closely as Tessa told him how much money she’d discovered in her bank account, and about her talk with Liam the day before.
“I’ve decided to try the implants again, Micah,” she told him softly. “I know for sure I have the funds now, I’m dealing with reality, and I have no reason not to try.”
He’d been planning on paying anything she needed to pay to get the implants if that’s what she really wanted, and it rankled just a little that he doubted that she’d let him. Now that she knew she had funds, she wasn’t the type of woman to take advantage of the offer he’d planned on making.
“When?” he asked cautiously.
“Sarah has a doctor friend in New York. She set me up to see her while I’m there. I’m going to have a consult to see if it’s even advisable for me to try again.”
“I don’t see why not. If you were a candidate before, then I would think you still are.” He was happy that Tessa had found the strength to try again, but now he was nervous.
With all of her disappointments in the past, and so many tragic events behind her, the last thing he wanted was for her to ever hurt or be sad again. He consoled himself with the fact that he’d be there for her now and in the future if pain found its way back into her life. He knew Tessa, and Micah realized that she needed to try.
“I’m nervous, but I’ll be okay with whatever happens. I think the not knowing would be worse than knowing that it doesn’t work,” Tessa explained.
Micah knew he’d feel the same way, but her courage—still present even after so many bad things had happened to her—still humbled him sometimes.
He took her hand. “It will work, Tessa.”
She squeezed his hand. “Even if it doesn’t, I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll go with you.” It wasn’t really an offer; it was fact. He was going to be there with her.
“It’s after the performance. I thought maybe you’d be going back to work,” she said hesitantly.
“I’ve been working,” he growled. “Even though I’m here, I’m still working remotely. I can go with you.”
She finally nodded. “I’d like that, since I assumed you wouldn’t be coming back to Amesport.”
“Who said I’m not coming back?” he rasped. “I’m trying to get as much of the builds up as possible before the snow starts flying, and Julian and I need to deal with Xander. There’s a rehab with great results in Massachusetts. I’m hoping we can convince him to go before we leave for New York. But if I can’t, I’m not sure where we’ll go from there.”
Shit! His fucking heart was bleeding, and Tessa was already writing him off?
“Julian said he was handling Xander, and I guessed since you had so many men working on the houses, you’d just leave somebody in charge,” Tessa said quietly.
Honestly, he could easily do that, but then he’d have to be away from Tessa, and good-bye wasn’t a word he was planning to say to her. Ever. He just hadn’t told her that yet.
He pulled his hand back, wondering if she wanted him to stay in New York. “I guess I haven’t exactly planned what was going to happen.”
“Micah, don’t feel like you have to stay because of me, because you’re worried about hurting me. You did a lot for me, made me step out of my comfort zone and succeed. I knew what I was getting into when all this started. I knew it wasn’t forever. I can handle things alone. I’ve done it before. I don’t need you to be here.”
He glared at her, seeing the regret on her face. Holy hell, she was blowing him off? It was ironic that at one time he’d worried about hurting her when he had to return to New York. “What about the performance?”
She wrung her hands together nervously, ignoring the food on her plate. “I’ll need you there, but if you want to teach somebody else to do it—”
“I’m doing it,” he said evenly as he stood up, unable to sit here knowing she wanted him gone.
“Thank you,” she answered in a tremulous voice as she stood.
He put up a hand. “It’s not a big deal. I was planning on attending anyway. It is my charity.”
Micah attempted to bury his pain. If Tessa didn’t feel the same way he did, he didn’t know what else to say right now. She didn’t need him around. For him, the rules had changed. For her, they obviously hadn’t.
He needed to get away, and he needed to do it quickly. “I have to go.”
“You don’t want to run this morning? Or practice?”
He shook his head. “Like you said, I have a lot to do. And you don’t need me anymore.” He motioned toward the couch. “I picked you up a few things while I was in New York. I thought you might need them.”
He didn’t wait to see what she said. Saying two words he thought he’d never say, he muttered, “Good-bye, Tessa.”
Swiping up his keys from the table, he turned his back on her and walked away, exiting through the front door and striding to his truck.