The Escape Clause by Bernadette Marie Read Free Book Online

herself up on her elbow. “What was so exciting?” She looked down at her finger. “Okay, the proposal, but you said you’d wanted to wait. Why did you do it last night then?”
    Pete rubbed his eyes and sat up, pulling her up with him.
    Avery turned to him, covering her body with the sheet for modesty sake.
    “Aside from not wanting to spend another moment without you,” he said raising his hand to her cheek. “I got some great news yesterday and I knew the moment was right.”
    Avery smiled. “What news?”
    Pete lifted his chest and pushed back his shoulders. “I got the promotion.”
    She opened her mouth to congratulate him before her mind spun it around.
    He got the job. The very job she was banking on him not getting.
    She let out the breath she was holding. “Congratulations.”
    Pete studied her for a moment. His own smile faded away. “You don’t sound very genuine.”
    Avery lifted her chin. “Of course I am. You deserve it.”
    Pete’s eyes narrowed. “You’re using that debutante bullshit on me. C’mon, tell me what you really think.”
    Avery swung her legs over the side of the bed, taking the sheet wrapped around her with her as she stood. “I forgot. I was going to go to a yoga class this morning. I should…”
    Pete swiftly moved from the bed and stood in front of her, his naked body uncovered.
    “This isn’t what I was expecting. Why aren’t you happy for me?”
    Those tears she’d expected last night were now battling to surface. “I am happy for you. You deserve this.”
    “You said that.”
    “Well, it’s true.”
    He moved closer to her and took her arms in his hands. “You’re running. Don’t run from me.”
    She pulled from his grip. “Fine. I didn’t want you to get the job.”
    Disappointment washed over his face breaking her heart into a million pieces.
    “You didn’t want me to get the job I’ve been working my ass off for? Well, that’s supportive of you.”
    “Pete, it’s not that you shouldn’t have gotten it. I just was hoping maybe you’d be up for it again—later.”
    He took a step toward her forcing her to take a step back. “Why didn’t you want me to have that job? You have something else you want to say.”
    It shouldn’t be this hard, she thought. Of course, she had something to say. Had he forgotten her plans?
    “I wanted you to move to France with me.”
    Pete deflated right in front of her. He turned and scrubbed his hands over his face. “You wanted me to pick up my life and just move away?”
    “With me,” she pleaded.
    “With you? Avery, why are you even considering going? You don’t know that man at all.”
    “He’s my grandfather,” she said trying to catch her breath.
    “Right. And you’ve only seen him a handful of times in your entire life. Now he offers you something you know nothing about and you’re willing to leave your entire family and move to a country you’ve only visited? I don’t think you know what you’re doing.”
    “I thought you supported me.”
    “I do support you. I think you can do amazing things. I don’t happen to share the same enthusiasm in you doing those things in France where you’ll have no one.”
    “I’ll have my grandfather.”
    Pete nodded sarcastically. “Right. That worked out so well for your mother.”
    Avery just stared at him. “You won’t go with me?”
    “Avery, we just decided to get married. We can’t just run off and live somewhere else.”
    “Yes we can.”
    Pete turned and picked up his pants from the floor and slipped them on. “I have to go to work. We can talk about this tonight.”
    “I leave next Wednesday.”
    Pete buckled his belt and reached for his shirt. “We will talk about it tonight,” he said again.
    Avery felt her heart shatter. “I leave next Wednesday.”
    Pete lifted his head. “You’re moving to France? That’s the end of it? No discussion? No talking it over with me? You’re just going.”
    “I leave next Wednesday,” she repeated as