A week after the whole drama with Troye, the school had a half-day because of some conference that most of the staff had to attend. Being a teacher of photography and media, it wasn't relevant to me and I didn't have to attend so I headed home, planning to catch up on some forgotten housework and finish marking some student's essays. I was very confused, to say the least, to see Jacob's car sat in the driveway when I got home and I called out to him as I went into the house.
"Jacob? Are you here?"
"Kitchen!" He called back. I dropped my things on the sofa as I made my way to him.
"Hey. Why are you home?"
"It's not for long. I had some time between meetings and thought I'd come home to have lunch with you." I smiled and stepped into his embrace.
"That's so sweet of you. I thought you'd come home sick or something."
"You know I never get sick." He teased, kissing me. I just laughed and let go of him.
"So, what's for lunch, then?"
"I hadn't actually thought that far ahead. I should have grabbed something from the store on the way home, shouldn't I?"
"I'm sure we can find something in the house," I replied, going over to the refrigerator. "How much time do you have? I could whip up that warm chicken salad you like."
"Sounds good. I'll help to make it quicker." With a smile, I passed him the ingredients for the salad. Together, we made quick work of it and we were soon sat at the table to eat.
"So what's on the agenda for the rest of the day then?" I asked.
"A couple more meetings and a final review of next month's layout. Then I'm home again."
"Sounds like it'll be a late night." I pouted. I hated when he had to work late and missed having dinner with Penny and me.
"Hopefully not." He assured me with a smile. "These meetings are only short ones. We're discussing the Paris office again." He started chewing on his bottom lip then, looking like a guilty child.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Um, well, the reason we're having more meetings about the Paris office is that the Editor over there is about to be fired so they're looking for a new one."
"So?" I didn't understand why he was looking so guilty.
"I'm their top pick."
"That's ridiculous. You live here. You can't be Editor of the Paris office if you live halfway across the world from it." I laughed but stopped when I saw that he wasn't laughing too. "You can't be serious?"
"Con, it's a huge opportunity. And an honour that the magazine thinks I'm good enough."
"Our life is here, though. I've finally got my dream job. Penny is happy at school. Why would you want to uproot our lives like that?"
"I don't know, I..." He sighed and took hold of my hands, making me look him in the eye. "Like you said, you've got your dream job. This is mine."
"Jacob, I love you. And I want you to be happy. But if we move across the world, I don't know that I'll be happy. And I don't know if Penny will be either."
"Penny is seven years old. She'll adapt quickly. And I'm sure we'll find you a job that you love just as much. Imagine all the photography possibilities over there. The short trips we could take if we lived in France."
"It sounds to me like you've already decided you want to go."
"I don't even know if they'll actually give me the job. But I'd love it if they did. Connor, this is everything I've worked for my whole career." I sighed and squeezed his hands. I didn't want to crush his dreams but I knew if I ended up not loving it over there, he'd feel so guilty and it would ruin it for all of us.
