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“So what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until morning?”
    I leaned against the table opposite hers so that there was only a few feet separating us. “I know how to fix our problem.”
    “Oh, do you? Because short of you not moving to Colorado, and then subsequently hating me because I took away everyone’s chance to have that team back, I’m really not seeing where there’s an option.”
    “Option one: I could go seasonal. Live there during the summers and be back here for the winters.”
    She shook her head before I even finished what I was saying. “Nope. You can’t afford that. There are no jobs up here that would take you on that stipulation, even your crew here couldn’t. Next brilliant idea?”
    “Okay. Then you move to Colorado with me.”
    Now I was the one gripping the table as her face drained of color. “What? Are you kidding?”
    Fuck, was that my heart in my throat, or had I just swallowed something huge? “I’ve never been more serious.”
    Silence stretched between us as she blinked at me, her mouth slightly agape, her unreadable eyes never wavering from mine.
    “I’m serious, Avery,” I repeated quietly.
    “I can tell,” she answered.
    “I’ve thought it through—”
    “Obviously, because I just talked to you twelve hours ago. Seems perfectly thought out.”
    “You have always wanted to leave here.” I started laying out the reasons like I had planned.
    “And you know why I can’t!” she shouted. “What are you thinking, River? I can’t just pick up and leave. I’m not you. I have responsibilities here. I have Adeline and my father to think of.”
    “I know. I’ve watched you struggle every day that I’ve known you, and I’ve seen you grow into an amazing, strong woman.”
    “Stop!” She put her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, little lines appearing between her eyebrows.
    I crossed the distance between us, lightly pulling her hands away from her face. “Open your eyes,” I begged.
    Her eyelids fluttered open to reveal blue eyes swimming with so much emotion that I nearly lost my breath. “Tell me one thing. If it wasn’t for Adeline, for your father, and every piece of obligation that anchors you to this place, would you want to come with me?”
    Her eyes flickered back and forth, her tell for when she was hashing something out in her head.
    Avery had always been immovable in her loyalty to family, her insistence that she was responsible for them both. It was something I’d always loved about her, but now I needed that to give just an inch.
    “Would you want to come with me? Get out of here? The Rockies are just as gorgeous, and the sun is a little more dependable. And best of all, you’d have me.”
    Her eyes flew to mine. “But I’m not free, no matter how pretty you make it sound.”
    My thumbs lightly stroked the insides of her wrists. “I know our lives aren’t prefect, but I’m asking you, in a perfect world—I’m asking you to pretend—if you didn’t have the obligations you do, if it was just you and me making this decision, would you want to come with me? Would you take that leap?”
    “To Colorado?” she asked.
    “To Colorado,” I affirmed just in case she thought I meant back to my house for tea.
    Her eyes slid shut. “Yes,” she whispered.
    My breath abandoned me in a rush, my entire body letting go of the tension that had plagued me since Bishop told me we’d have to go. “Oh, thank God.”
    “But it doesn’t matter,” she cried, her face distorting as she fought tears. “What I want doesn’t matter. That I would give anything to move somewhere new with a fresh start where I’m not ‘that drunk’s’ daughter, or to have the chance to keep you as my best friend…none of it matters. My life is what it is.”
    “It doesn’t have to be.” I took her face in my hands, cradling the back of her head.
    “It does. What about Adeline? What would she do?”
    My chest tightened at the way she always put