“I’m really sorry,” he said with his plate in his hand and hardly anything on it. “I shouldn’t have walked away in the midst of our talk. And I should’ve told you why I asked you here. I’m nervous it might not work out, so I didn’t say anything.”
She nodded in reply, but said nothing.
Regret was such a dick.
“No,” she finally said. Her jaw worked. “We, um…we had an agreement, and it wasn’t like I was a real girlfriend. You have every right to do what you want to do with your career. I hope it makes you happy, Ethan. I really do.”
“You make me happy, too, Em.” He said it. He meant it.
She shook her head, still focused on the line ahead. “That’s not fair.”
He touched her elbow, gently, being cautious as a bloke should be when he found himself ready to hand over his ticker to a woman. “What’s unfair?”
“We cannot argue while you’re in a suit like that. With that accent and that hair…it’s not fair,” she said, this time with a huff.
He moved forward into her space, his chest brushing against her back.
“Nothing’s changed for us. I still want to be with you.” Ethan said it because it needed to be said.
“But I don’t want this life,” she countered, firmly. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this life again. I knew that up front, that’s why you were a safe bet. And now…”
This was a right kick in the gut.
Then her expression changed, softened, and hardened at the same time. “I can’t do it again, Ethan. I just can’t.”
“What did you want from me, then?” he asked, already hating the answer. “When we talked in the car about making this thing between us stick?”
“All I wanted was you.” She lifted her hand to gesture at him, then dropped it. “Just you. Ethan up the street. I guess I forgot who you are for a second. I’m so sorry.”
That took his breath away, because when was the last time anyone wanted just him? It’d been a while. That was for sure.
Emmaline gently chucked a roll on the side of her plate before shaking her head and heading to table ten. The one with their names on the cards.
He kept his gaze on her for as long as he could muster the strength.
Three steps, and she said nothing. Didn’t look back.
Four steps, and he said nothing. Didn’t move.
No one said anything, even as she sat, chucked that mask over her face—the one that said everything’s hunky dory—and talked with the lady next to her like they were best friends.
Meanwhile, Ethan stood like a loser, a poser, holding on to his dinner, unsure if he was invited to go to the table with her or if he should sit in the naughty corner.
“Ethan Greene.” Andrew Reynolds, head of Nosh, stepped right up to him. “Glad you could make it.”
Andrew was about Ethan’s age, and he was the guy who could make this happen for him. But, now Ethan was a wreck of confusion with everything.
Still, Ethan held his free hand out for a shake, even if his heart wasn’t in it.
“You’re a hard bloke to pin down,” Ethan said.
Andrew half grinned. “I hear you want to come back to Nosh?”
“I do.” Now he was conflicted, butthiswas the dream. “If you’ll have me back. Things are calmer now on the homefront with Annie. I can give you my all.”
When he’d left the first time, it’d been an absolute wreck.
“You are a family man now.” Andrew clapped him on the back. “Always impressive.”
