"So, anyway, Fulton told me that Hackett wanted to see me before I left, so I stopped by his office and – bam! Out of the blue, he offers me the AD position!"

Emily's eyes were as wide as saucers, and her jaw dropped. "No way!"

"Right?" Paige said, smiling in disbelief. "Like, what high school even has an athletic director?"

"So, what did you say?"

"I told him I'd let him know. I mean, I've already committed to Iowa, so…"

"Yeah. Iowa State! The Big 12. That's a great opportunity. You have to take it!"

Paige was a little disappointed that Emily didn't seem interested in getting her to stay. "Well, anyway, I told him I'd think it over."

"Yeah." Emily nodded her head idly, not looking at Paige. "I always thought you'd end up out in California."

"With Nick and Marlene?" Paige scoffed. "California was their dream," she said bitterly. "They can have it. That whole... ordeal. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"Well, it wasn't all bad. I mean, you made some good friends. You... learned a lot about yourself."

"Yeah, I guess." Paige shook her head rapidly. "I don't know. It just reminds me of everything my parents wanted me to do. All of their dreams that they were trying to live through me. And how they totally wrote me off, once their dreams died."

Emily pouted empathetically. Trying to get off that subject and onto something more upbeat, she said, "Well, Iowa sounds like your dream job, then." Turning her gaze away from Paige, she added, "And, you know, it's not as you have anything tying you back to Rosewood, now that your parents are in Cali." Emily bit her lip and took a quick glance at Paige's reaction.

Paige chuckled, defeated. "Yeah," she said softly, and then again, more confidently. "Yeah! You're right, Emily! It's a great job, a great chance to start fresh, with no history and no bad memories…"

Paige was excited. She kept going on and on, but Emily didn't really hear her. She had misplayed her hand. When she mentioned that Paige didn't have anyone , she expected Paige to say something like, "Well, maybe there is someone," and that would open the door for them to start being honest about their feelings. Any other woman would have done that. Any of the half-dozen women Emily had dated in high school and college would've done that. But not Paige McCullers. Paige was always a straight shooter. She didn't pick up on hints. Or maybe she truly wasn't interested after all.

"And, when recruiting season comes around, I'll have an inside gal here on the Rosewood staff!"

Emily pumped her fist in faux enthusiasm. "I'm your gal," she said weakly. There was a cruel irony in that statement, since it meant that Emily actually wasn't Paige's gal. But, she could see the excitement in Paige's eyes at the prospect of coaching at Iowa State. She was happy for her.

"So, did you talk to her?"

Emily took a long sip of her coffee. Without looking up as she set down her mug, she nodded and said, "We talked."

"And?" Hanna, impatiently, was almost yelling. She spread her fingers out wide, her hands palms-up against the table.

Emily shrugged. "She's going to Iowa."

Hanna grunted out of frustration.

"What?" Emily wanted to know why Hanna was upset.

"I thought she'd changed." Hanna's arms were flailing wildly. She was getting angry. "I thought it meant something, when she came back to Rosewood."

"Don't blame her, Hanna." Emily raised a finger in rebuke. "It's a great opportunity. I totally get it."

"Did you tell her that you wanted her to stay?"

Emily took a deep breath and another long sip. "Not… in so many words?"

"What does that mean?" Emily had the look of a puppy who'd been caught with Mommy's shoes. Hanna's expression changed. "What did you tell her?" she asked accusingly.

Emily looked off to the side, avoiding Hanna's eyes. "I told her that it was a great opportunity. And I told her that she didn't have anybody keeping her in Rosewood."

"Emily!"

"I meant she didn't have any family here. I just assumed…"

"Just assumed what?" Hanna demanded. Emily raised her shoulders and tightened her lips. "God, Emily! You know how Paige is! She's so focused on how her life is supposed to go." Hanna made karate chops with her hand across the table, as if to delineate the compartments that Paige made of her life. "She's not going to pick up on 'I just assumed…'!"

"Well, maybe it's for the best." Hanna raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Hanna, this is Paige's dream job. I mean, now that swimming is off the table. This is the perfect job for her. I don't want to be the one that takes that away from her. I don't want her to resent me for the rest of her life. Do to her what her parents did and try to make her life about making me happy."

"Urgh!" Hanna ran her fingers through her hair, almost pulling it out. "When did you stop believing in love?"

"Me?" Emily protested. "What about you? When did you become Paige's biggest defender?"

"Since I saw how much she means to you," Hanna said softly. This time, she was the one who looked away. "Since I saw that you never lost your feelings for her, and I saw how happy you were when she came back into town."

"Well," Emily said between sips of coffee, "at some point, you've got to realize that it's over. Paige is leaving tomorrow morning, and I've got to deal with that. I'm not going to beg her to stay."

"God! Emily! You're not even going to talk to her? Try to stop her?"

"I can't do that, Hanna. That would be... stupid."

Emily wasn't lying. She didn't want to be the reason that Paige sacrificed her dreams. But, partially, she was afraid of what it would do to her if she came right out and asked Paige to stay, and Paige rejected her. She wasn't sure she could handle that.

Hanna's arms were hugging her chest, and she was rocking back and forth slightly as she stood in the parking lot in front of the Radley. It was early, and there was a chill in the air. But it was Hanna's nerves, not the weather, that had her hugging her body and shivering. She had been waiting in the parking lot for almost an hour, and she still had no idea what she was going to say when Paige came out.

"Hey!" she said aggressively, when Paige showed up. She was towing one piece of luggage, and had another strapped over her shoulder. She jumped at the unexpected sound and did a quick look of her surroundings, assessing how to respond to the threat. Her hand was cocked and ready for a fight.

"P… Paige," Hanna said, a little less threateningly.

Hanna was moving towards her, unsteady on her feet. Paige had seen that look before. She had a way of intimidating her competition when she was swimming. Like Hanna, they often tried to put on a brave face, but their bodies gave them away.

"We need to talk." There was only a hint of tremolo in Hanna's voice.

Paige angled her head to the side, shaking it no. "No, we don't," she said coolly. "I need to get on the road."

"Okay, I get it," Hanna said sarcastically, throwing her hands up. "You don't like me, and I don't like you. But I'm here, right? So, it's got to be pretty important?"

Paige inhaled deeply and leaned back against the car. "Make it quick," she said. "I want to beat the rush hour traffic."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Can we just… not do this in the parking lot? Can we just go somewhere?"

Paige groaned overly dramatically, to make the point that she was aggrieved, but she opened the rear door and tossed her luggage inside, closing the door with a loud thud. "Fine," she said peevishly. "Let's go."

Hanna gestured towards the lobby of the Radley and headed in that direction, walking briskly and even taking a couple of running steps, to keep pace with Paige. Paige went to sit at one of the tables in the reception area, but Hanna grabbed her wrist and led her over to the breakfast area. They were going to do this over coffee.

Hanna tapped on her cardboard coffee cup with the nail on her middle finger. "You have to take that job at Rosewood High," she informed Paige. She sounded on the brink of tears.

"Oh, really?" Paige said defiantly. She gave Hanna an icy stare.

Hanna knew that she couldn't out-intimidate Paige. That wasn't what she was there for. She was there to beg. The gaze that she shot back at Paige was softer; more submissive – but just as unrelenting. Paige backed down.

"Well, anyway," she mumbled, "I already told Hackett no, so…"

"You can tell him that you changed your mind," Hanna blurted out desperately. Paige opened her mouth, but Hanna cut you off. "It's obvious that he wants you to stay in Rosewood."

Paige opened her mouth again and started to say something, but she paused, tilting her head to the side. "He wants me to stay?"

"Yes," Hanna said weakly. She looked down at her coffee cup. "And I want… I want you to stay." She looked up at Paige again.

"Really? You want me to stay in Rosewood."

Hanna dropped her shoulders. "You're supposed to be the smart one." Hanna waved her hands, making her voice mockingly deep. " Big Stanford grad." Back to her normal voice, only a bit softer, she added, "You can figure it out."

"Yeah." Paige tightened her lips and slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, I suppose I can."

Emily didn't bother looking up from the stat sheets that she was reviewing when she heard a knock on her office door. "Come," she said flatly.

She loved her team, but she wasn't in the mood to discuss their training issues or their squabbles with their parents or whatever was going on with them and their locker partners at that moment.

"Em."

Emily looked up, stunned at the unexpected but familiar voice. She gestured towards the seat on the other side of her desk.

"Did you hear from her?" Hanna, still leaning in the doorway, asked.

Emily chuckled dryly and took a look at the clock. "She's halfway through Ohio by now."

"She didn't call you or anything?" Hanna asked in disbelief. She thought she had gotten through to Paige. Emily shook her head "no" with a sad smile. She knew that Hanna had good intentions, but she really didn't need her faced rubbed in it, so soon after Paige left her behind.

Hanna was trying to keep from crying. As the day went by and she hadn't heard from Emily, she'd had a growing sense of dread that Paige had just left. She crossed over to the chair that Emily had offered earlier, smoothing out her skirt as she sat down. "Well, I just wanted to tell you," she croaked. "It's not over. Even though it doesn't look good now. She's going to realize what she's leaving behind, and… and…"

Emily reached for Hanna's arm and gave it a squeeze. "Look, Hanna, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you don't have to. Really, I'm okay."

Hanna stood up and extended her arms. Emily walked around the desk and gave her a hug. "Just promise me you won't give up on her, okay?" Hanna's lips were close to Emily's ear. "Even if you date other people. Even if she…"

Emily backed away slightly. "What brought all this on?"

"I'm just saying!" Hanna looked deep into her eyes. "I know how you feel about her. And I know she feels that way about you, too."

"Oh, really? And how do you know that?"

Hanna knew that Emily would go ballistic if she knew about her chat with Paige earlier in the day. Especially since the chat hadn't worked. "Just, please, trust me on this one, okay?" She smoothed her hand over Emily's hair. "I know people. And I'm telling you: Don't give up on Paige."

"Well, well." The voice on the other end of the line sounded weary but upbeat. "If it isn't Paige McCullers."

"Hi, Mir."

"What time is it?"

"Oh, God! I forgot about the time difference!"

"It's okay, it's okay." Miranda yawned, long and loud. "This is a treat! I hardly ever hear from you anymore!"

"Actually, I'm on the alumni fund-raising committee, so you'll be hearing from me at least once a year." Paige was trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh," Miranda sighed. "I should've known."

"I'm just kidding!" Paige interjected quickly. "It's not that time of year, yet."

Miranda chuckled wryly. "Well, then, let me guess. This must be about a girl." She heard Paige let out a deep breath. "Seriously, Paige?" She exhaled, too. "Still?"

"I know, I know…"

"I thought you were going to Iowa to get away from all that?"

"I stopped in Rosewood," Paige mumbled.

"You did what?"

"I went by there, for one last good-bye, you know? To say good-bye to my old coach, my old… friends." Miranda clicked her tongue. "And, okay! Yes, I went to see her!"

"Paige, you're being so unfair to this girl. Either tell her how you feel or let her go. What do you expect her to do, throw herself at you, just because you show up? I swear, why do you keep torturing yourself? And her?"

"But, it was different this time! I actually asked her to meet me for coffee, and we talked about a bunch of things…"

"Did you tell her how you feel?"

Paige's voice got soft. "I couldn't get a read on the situation. I showed up, dressed for a date, and she showed up, like 'Hiya, Pal!' And Emily's never like that when she goes out. She was clearly sending me a message."

"Oh, Lord, help me!" Miranda stopped herself before she said what she was thinking - that the two of them deserved each other.

"And then," Paige said, picking up the pace because she was desperate to justify her belief that Emily didn't think of her that way, "I went to my old high school, and the vice principal offered me a job on the spot. So, I told Emily about it, and she's like, 'Why would you possibly stay here? There's no one left in Rosewood for you! Iowa State's your dream job! What are you waiting for?'" Paige's hands were flailing wildly as she spoke. "She actually came right out and said that there's nobody in Rosewood to keep me there!"

"Shit, Paige," Miranda whispered. Paige shrugged her shoulders with a frown. "God, I wish I were there with you, so we could go get drunk!"

"I wish you were, too."

"So, how do you feel?"

Paige's chest heaved as she thought it over. "Confused," she said at last.

"About?"

"Well, the next morning, when I was on m way out of town, her best friend like ambushed me in the parking lot and practically begged me to take the job in Rosewood."

"Her best friend who hates you?"

"Exactly. The one who told me not to hurt Emily. So… I mean, what was that about?"

Miranda thought for a moment before she answered. "Paige," she said soberly, "ask yourself why you called me. You don't need me to tell you what it meant, right? You just want someone to tell you to do what you already want to do. You just want me to do for you what her best friend did for her."

"I… It's a bit more complicated than that."

"Yeah, it's really not, though, is it?" Miranda waited for a response, but when none came, she followed up. "How did you leave things with her."

"Well, I… uh…"

"Paige!"

"I was on my way out of town," Paige protested defensively. "What was I supposed to do? Hanna ambushed me in the parking lot – I couldn't very well just… I mean, what was I supposed to do, Miranda?"

"Anything other than fucking leave town and not say anything to her, Paige!"

"So, that's it? It's over?"

"You keep trying to sabotage yourself when it comes to this girl, don't you? It's as if you don't want to give her the chance to reject you. And then you torture yourself by wondering why you're not together." Paige groaned weakly. "Paige, this is not healthy behavior!"

A/N - It gets better really soon, folks. I promise! Thanks for sticking with it! 3