Read Champagne and Lemon Drops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance for Free Online

check it out."
    ***
    Beth paused in the doorway with the last box
of the things she'd need for her time away from Oz. She felt beyond
exhausted—more like a deflated balloon than a human. Oz looked just
as defeated. She took a step toward him, bothered that the box she
was holding kept them from hugging. She was missing the last hug
she'd get for up to a month.
    "I wish you'd let me be the one to move
out." Oz reached over and tucked a strand of her hair behind an
ear. She gave him a hard look. They weren't having this
conversation again.
    "If you've known since
forever that accounting isn't for you, why did you wait until now?"
Her anger and hurt took root and words flew from her mouth like
they were jet-propelled. "Why not just dump the business and get it over
with? Why not just give Ed your whole business! I thought you had respect
and cared about others. I thought you were better than that. What
kind of man strings along clients and then dumps them without
warning after they've made a commitment?"
    "I do have respect for people and
I'm not dumping
you." Oz grasped her shoulders and bent down so he could look her
in the eye. "I'm doing this because I love and respect you. I need
time to figure out how I can be the man I want to be, and the man
you need me to be."
    "Why can't you tell your dad you don't want
the business? Why are you doing this?" She felt so weak and
pathetic. She pulled her shoulders straight and put on an air of
confidence she didn't feel. She had to be strong. Had to keep her
pride.
    "You've never had to tell your parents you
hate the very thing they love after you've just spent the last few
years of your life pretending it was your calling."
    "Yeah, well I wish I'd had the opportunity."
Tears blurred her vision and she stepped out onto the porch.
    "Beth, I didn't mean it like that."
    Her nose burned with unshed tears and at the
bottom of the steps she turned and said, "I won't be at our Sunday
coffee, Oz. I'm going to the city." By missing Sunday, she was
going to have to go a week plus a couple of days until their next
agreed check in. While it hurt to be away from him for that long,
she couldn't help but hope that it would be even worse for him.
    She slowly made her way to the car, misery
clouding her vision of the way the earth was greening up, preparing
for spring, the mountains glowing in the evening light. With
shaking arms, she lowered the box into the back of the station
wagon, her alarm clock tumbling out, jangling in protest. She
turned to face Oz waiting for him to ask why she wouldn't be there.
He stayed frozen to the spot at the top of the porch steps. His
grip was tight on the railing, and he didn't speak or blink. She
thought she may have seen him sway, but she couldn't be sure.
    In a low voice he asked, "Are we doing the
right thing?"
    "Yes," she replied firmly, surprising
herself. "If you're having doubts now, what's it going to be like
in six months or a year? You need to fix whatever's giving you
doubts, Oz. I can't..." She shook her head, holding back tears. "I
just can't." She got in her car, her head still shaking. She had to
get away before her resistance crumbled and she dove back into his
arms only to find out later that he hadn't fixed whatever was
bothering him about their relationship. If things were going to go
south between them, it had to happen now. Not later when they had
kids.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Beth hunched over her upturned basket of
music, and yawned as she matched cracked cases with their CDs.
Sleeping on Katie's hide-a-bed was so not a good long-term
where-am-I-going-to-live solution. Especially since Katie had just
switched to night shifts which meant she was traipsing through the
living room—aka Beth's new bedroom—at odd hours of the day and
night.
    But it was only for a short time. Oz had
already expressed doubts the other night when she was packing, but
she wasn't going to let him end their time apart prematurely. If he
needed a break, he was