“You saved it!” Fiona pushed in beside her.
Em went for easy breezy, but stood wobbly, like she was finding her footing for the first time. She tried to hand Fiona the bracelet, but her daughter wasn’t having it. “Yuck.”
“Uh…” Em didn’t have time to say anything else, because Fiona bounded right over to her grandparents.
“Annie’s my new best friend,” Fiona said, pulling Dad’s arm.
Then she raved to Annie about her grandma’s garden and grandpa’s firetruck. She went on and on about how Uncle James had a scooter he let her ride sometimes.
Annie nodded like mad, hanging on every word.
And there was that tickle again at the back of Em’s neck.
“Bravo, Em. You made the right call going right on in for the bracelet,” Ethan assured.
“Really?” she asked because it was super sweet of him to say that.
“Bloody hell, no.” He shook his head. “But no need to rub salt in the wound.”
She nodded because she agreed, but she still lanced him with her gaze. “Thanks.”
“No worries.” He flashed a sly smile and…oh no, no, no.
Something dormant inside her started to creak open. Something unwelcome that she tried to suppress because she didn’t enjoy feeling this type of thing. Not with a man like Ethan.
The precise kind of man she’d sworn off.
But this was the kind of profound feeling a person had no power over. Like falling asleep—it’s not something to control because it happened without any effort or consent. The kind of feeling that wiggled and nudged around her heart like a hug.
A hug that would eventually turn into a vice and a painful sort of pressure.
This was the type of thing that shifted the ground beneath her feet so she was stuck in a way that even WD-40 and Dad couldn’t help.
She shook off the feeling. This whole thing was only pretend. There were no real feelings allowed with Ethan.
She needed to remember that.
Except…what if hewasdifferent? Could that even change anything for her? Or them?
Chapter Twelve
ETHAN
“I likeFiona’s gramma and grampa,” Annie said, so close to the counter she was practically sitting on it.
“They look to be good folks,” Ethan agreed. Though a bit hard on Em.
“Did you know that Fiona has cousins? A whole bunch of them,” Annie continued. “She said maybe I’ll get to meet them, too!”
Ethan pulled a finished tray of cookies from the oven. “Careful, love. Hot.”
“Gramma and Grandpa say they can stay for cookies!” Fiona announced, skipping her way to the counter. “Uncle James didn’t want to.”
Well, Uncle James was a bit of a right ass, wasn’t he?
After the bracelet debacle Ethan and Em were both ready to call it an afternoon—go their separate ways. But the girls invited Em’s parents to his house to show off the rest of the bracelets. The grandparents didn’t have much of a choice, honestly. Not with Fiona and Annie tag teaming them.
“Wonderful,” Ethan said. “These are all ready. I’ve got another tray coming along.”
