Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 164557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
As I pick up one of the rejections in the stack, my phone buzzes with a text from Beckett.
BECKETT:
Hey. Can you come over?
I frown at the screen. His team lost the semi-finals last night, so he’s probably still feeling down. Maybe he needs to talk or distract himself from the crushing disappointment.
ME:
Yeah. I’m on my way.
Fine, I might be looking to distract myself too, using his SOS to once again delay picking a grad school program. Still, as I grab my jacket and keys, I also tuck the stack of letters into my bag. Maybe I can get his and Will’s opinions on the grad school dilemma while I’m there.
When I let myself into their house twenty minutes later, Beckett immediately comes down to greet me. I expect to see some postgame sadness, but he’s not moping around. In fact, there’s a weird kind of energy in his eyes. And he finally shaved that beard, allowing me to see his perfect, chiseled features again. He’s truly one of the best-looking men I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’m a lucky woman.
“Hey,” I say, hanging my jacket. “How are you holding up?”
“Fine.” He shrugs. “Thanks for coming over. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
I follow him into the living room, realizing this isn’t about the game at all. “What’s going on?”
Beckett runs a hand through his blond hair, pursing his lips as if trying to find the right words. “I, uh, got a job offer.”
“Really? That’s awesome. Where?”
“Sydney.”
My jaw drops, and then, before I can stop it, I burst out laughing.
He stares at me in confusion. “What’s so funny?”
“I got an acceptance letter from the grad school in Sydney.”
“Seriously?”
“Dead serious.” I pull the envelopes from my bag, flipping through them until I find the one. I wave it in the air. “University of Sydney.”
He grins, that sexy rogue grin that makes my stomach flip. “That’s fate, right? It’s gotta be.”
I shake my head, still laughing. “I don’t believe in fate.”
“Well, I do. Look, I’ve been thinking about it since I got the offer. And now hearing you got accepted too? It just makes sense.” He searches my gaze. “Would you come with me? To Australia?”
My heart skips a beat. “What about Will?”
Beckett doesn’t hesitate. “I’ll ask him too. I want both of you with me. This thing we have, whatever it is…it’s something real. I don’t want to leave it behind.”
I’m stunned, my mind racing as I try to process what he’s saying. Move to Australia? With Beckett and possibly Will? Part of me can’t believe he’s even asking, but the other part—the part that’s always dreamed of adventure, of freedom—feels a rush of excitement.
“You’re serious,” I say, more to myself than to him.
“Dead serious,” he mimics, stepping closer. “You don’t have to decide right now. But I do want you to think about it. Picture what it would be like. You, me, Larsen. Together in Syd-naye.”
I grin at the way he exaggerates his accent. Then I bite my lip, torn between the practical side of me and the part that wants to say yes right this second.
“Okay. I’ll think about it.”
Even as the words leave my mouth, I already know how tempted I am. How incredible it would be to not say goodbye to Beckett.
Yet at the same time, I can’t factor Beckett or Will into this. First, I need to determine what this decision would mean for me. For my family. For everything I’ve worked toward.
Leaving the States would be a huge deal. My parents expect me to stay close. Maybe not in the same town but at least in the same country. They’ve supported me through all this, through college, through the mess of finding my biological brother, and now I’m about to tell them I might be moving halfway around the world? And not only that but that I’ll be giving up an elite program in the States for the University of Sydney? It’s a downgrade in schools, or at least my parents will view it that way.
“I’ll need to talk to my family about it.” Nerves tickle my stomach. “They have no idea I even applied overseas.” Another thought occurs to me. “What if I go to Sydney, and it’s not what I thought it would be? What if I hate it?”
Beckett chuckles at my panicky expression. “Then you can leave. Fun fact, sugar puff—there’s no law stating that once you step foot on Australian soil, you’re forbidden from leaving the continent.” He shrugs. “I’m not asking for forever, Charlie. Just think about it, though.”
I nod slowly. “Okay.”
As I leave the town house a couple hours later, my mind is still a mess of thoughts and emotions. Moving to Australia sounds…crazy. But it also sounds amazing. And I can’t stop thinking about how perfect it might be. I don’t want to be at MIT or Cornell. From the moment I started applying to grad schools, I was drawn to the new, exciting, unfamiliar places. Sydney. Oxford. Copenhagen. Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the latter program—it was too damn competitive—or the Melbourne one, but I was accepted into the rest.