hand, she wasn’t thrilled about the location, the school, or the job itself.
On the other other hand, she’d probably be so bored and lonely living in a small town that she’d have nothing else to do but spend her free time working on the proof she hoped to publish, which would go a long way to boosting her CV and helping her get a better job next year.
When it came right down to it, she didn’t have a choice. It didn’t matter how conflicted she was because she had no other options. None.
Mia called her boyfriend and arranged to meet him for dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant to break the bad news. Paul worked at a tech company as a software programmer. They’d met via a dating app last year and hit it off immediately. They challenged each other, had deep, intellectual conversations, and were both focused on their careers and their mutual goals of financial independence. The two of them were ideally suited.
Except for the small matter of her career requiring her to move away from LA. She’d always known it was a possibility, but they’d never talked about it much. Every time she’d raised the subject, Paul had said they’d figure it out when the time came.
Well, the time was now.
Once they’d gotten their drinks, Mia moved straight to the bad news. “Bowman offered me the job. A one-year contract teaching three courses a semester. Starting in August.”
Paul sat across the table from her picking through the bowl of tortilla chips. She watched his face carefully, but his ice-blue eyes betrayed no reaction as he selected a chip and used it to scoop up an implausible amount of salsa before shoving the whole thing in his mouth.
“Tell me again where this place is?” he said when he’d finished chewing.
She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ears. “Crowder, Texas. About seventy miles outside Austin.”
“Wow. Okay.” Was that a smidge of disappointment she detected in his voice? It was hard to tell. He reached for his michelada and licked some of the salt off the rim. “Are you going to take it?”
She took a long, deliberate sip of her margarita before answering. “I think I have to.” She looked at him. “Don’t I?”
He shook his head, pushing his drink away. “I can’t tell you what to do.”
She’d always appreciated that he never tried to exert influence over her life, but right now she’d give anything for someone to tell her what to do. “The way things are going, I might not get another offer this good. I think I have to take it.”
Paul nodded and took a sip of his drink. “Then I guess we should probably break up,” he said without any trace of emotion.
“What?” Mia jerked her head up. “Just like that? You don’t want to—”
“Move to Texas?” His scoffing tone cut deep. “That’s not on the table. I thought you knew that.”
She hadn’t known that. How could she when they hadn’t talked about it? Was this what he’d meant all along when he said they’d figure it out? That they’d just break up?
Admittedly, rural Texas was a big ask. Paul’s answer might have been different if she’d been offered a job in the Bay Area or New York City. It would be nice to think so, anyway.
Mia swallowed, trying to hide how much his reaction had hurt. “You’re always saying how great it is that you can work remote from anywhere.”
“Theoretically, yeah. But I’ve got a good job right now that’s here, and they like to see my face in the office. This is where I need to be for networking and career advancement. There’s nothing for me in wherever-the-fuck Texas.”
“Crowder.” Mia wanted to point out that she was the something for him there, but he clearly didn’t consider that enough of an incentive.
“Whatever,” he mumbled, as if the name of the place she’d be living wasn’t important enough for him to remember.
“Okay but…” She struggled to find a solution to the problem. A way through that didn’t mean the end of their relationship. “We don’t necessarily have to break up. We could try to make it work. It would only be temporary.”
He regarded her with a pitying expression. “This job’s temporary, but what comes after? You’ll have to move somewhere else in a year, right, to take another job? What are the odds it’ll be here in LA? Or even on the West Coast? You’ll be back in the exact same situation: at the mercy