Chapter 2

Jason grabbed his jacket, his face bright with excitement as he got ready to go out for a celebratory meal with Yvonne.

He smiled tenderly into the phone, looking like a boy who had just fallen in love.

Only when he reached the door did he remember to tell me where he was going.

"There's a problem with Yvonne's thesis. She wants me to advise her.

"I probably won't have time over the next few days."

He didn't give me any room to refuse. He simply ordered me to handle the project on my own.

For a moment, my thoughts drifted back to three years ago, when we'd first taken on the water-diversion project.

Jason and I had spent day and night traveling across the Northwest, studying the terrain.

We were both sunburned and tanned dark, but neither of us felt tired.

Whenever we got too tired to keep walking, we'd sit down right there on the ground. Jason would hold the notebook in which he'd marked the terrain features in red, his other arm wrapped around me.

"These are the two most important things in my life.

"One is the cause I've devoted my life to, bringing the Northwest's drought under control.

"The other is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Gusts of sandy wind swept across our faces, but I could still see the light in his eyes.

Now that the water-diversion project was almost complete, he couldn't even wait to see what he once believed in become reality.

I pulled myself out of the memory and smiled calmly.

"Go. Yvonne's graduation is more important."

Jason looked startled for a moment, and a complicated look crossed his face.

He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Yvonne's call interrupted him.

He answered with a faint smile and walked out.

Martin watched him leave and sighed, then pulled out the contract paperwork for me.

"I'm not saying this just to talk the two of you into staying. I genuinely hate to see you throw all of this away. You've already made it through three years. What's one last year?

"Sign here to terminate your contract. I'll submit it to the department. There will definitely be penalties..."

"I'm not leaving."

I cut him off and pushed the papers back across the desk.

"Developing the Northwest is my lifelong dream. I'm not leaving just because Jason is.

"As for what Jason chooses to do, that has nothing to do with me anymore."

To get the water-diversion project finished, I spent the next two weeks moving from one work site to another in safety gear.

My heels were rubbed raw, and my hands had turned white from being soaked for so long.

AS I watched water from the Golden River flow into the Northwest Main Canal after traveling hundreds of miles, tears streamed down my face.

I heard someone sigh nearby.

"What a shame. Professor Hale was in charge of the water-diversion project from beginning to end, and he didn't even stay to see it completed."

"What's there to feel sorry about? He's off with a beautiful woman right now. You think he has time for all this dirt and silt?"

I wiped away my tears and quietly walked off.

It was almost dark by the time I got home.

I hadn't eaten all day, and my stomach was cramping badly.

As soon as I opened the door, I smelled food on the table. I casually picked up a fried egg and took a bite.

Jason came out of the kitchen smiling, carrying a bowl of pasta.

"You little glutton. The pasta isn't even ready yet, and you've already eaten the fried egg. Now your birthday meal won't be complete..."

When he realized it was me sitting in the living room, he was stunned.

A second later, his expression darkened, and he took the bowl away from in front of me.

"I made this for Yvonne.

"Why would you eat it without asking?"

My stomach churned painfully. My face had gone pale as I asked, "This is my home, and you're my husband. I don't even have the right to eat food you made?"

Crash.

The sound of a dish shattering came from the kitchen.

Jason's chest rose and fell several times as he struggled to contain his anger.

"Nina Stone, you ate Yvonne's food, and you still have the nerve to argue? Where are your manners?"

While he was venting his anger, Yvonne walked out of the bathroom.