Lucas was Ethan’s nephew, his sister Mary’s oldest son. When Lucas had moved out to L.A. a year ago for grad school, she’d begged Ethan to help him find a job. Ethan’s last assistant had just put in her two weeks, so Ethan reluctantly took him on. They rarely saw each other in person or even spoke on the phone, but Ethan’s fridge was always stocked, his bills paid, and his household managed without him having to think about it. Thinking as little as possible was always the goal.
Ethan walked aimlessly to the kitchen. He never knew what to do with himself these days. He’d rented this house for a few years now, ever since he’d moved out of the home he shared with Noraand the girls a few miles down the same street, but it had never felt quite like home. It had been professionally decorated, cold and modern, before Ethan moved in, but he couldn’t bring himself to care enough to change it. Changing it would mean admitting that this was where he lived now. He spent the majority of his time in his office or his bedroom, anyway. Occasionally he swam in the mornings if he wasn’t too hungover.
As he padded over to the fridge, he was startled by a sharp rap on the front door. He sighed and pulled the fridge open, inspecting a foil-wrapped lump that, if he remembered correctly, contained the second half of an excellent carne asada burrito. Ethan’s fingers worked clumsily to unwrap the foil as he made his way toward the front door. He was drunker than he thought.
At this time of night, there was really only one possibility for who could be on the other side of the door.
“Nora.”
His ex-wife stood on his doorstep, arms crossed.
“You weren’t answering your phone, thought I’d drop by. This a bad time?”
Ethan moved out of the doorway and gestured her inside with the partially unwrapped burrito.
“Good as any. The girls okay?”
Nora walked ahead of him, striding to the kitchen with purpose. She was dressed in expensive-looking running leggings and a loose sweater, her cropped black hair pulled back in a tiny ponytail. She looked effortlessly chic, but then, he’d never seen her look anything less.
Half Thai and half Swedish, Nora possessed an imposing stature and a willowy frame that had caught the eye of a modeling scout before she’d finished her freshman year of high school. Her varsity basketball team lost their star power forward for good as she quickly became a runway fixture in every international fashioncapital before she could legally drink in most of them. Once she’d hit her twenties and become a fossil in the eyes of the fashion industry, she’d considered returning to her native Chicago to attend law school but instead had been coaxed by her reps into moving to L.A. to try her hand at acting first.
The first time Ethan had seen her, he’d thought she had to be the most beautiful woman ever to walk the earth, but in a way where he wasn’t sure if he wanted to put her on a pedestal and admire her from afar or take her home and ravish her. He’d split the difference by marrying her.
Though their divorce had seemed to drag on endlessly and he’d been devastated by the result of the custody battle, over the past few years their relationship had evolved into something resembling friendship. Being married with kids for ten years had a way of bonding you to a person for life, whether they liked it or not. At first, she would only come to his house to drop off the girls, but lately, every now and then she came by just to talk. Ethan knew it was more for his benefit than for hers, but he still appreciated the gesture. If he was in the right mood, that is. If he was in a self-loathing spiral he found her kindness unbearable.
Nora had remarried a year ago, to a kind, reliable man named Jeff who worked as a camera operator on her prime-time medical drama. Now she was back to the serene, self-possessed woman he’d married, rather than the melancholy shadow flitting around corners to avoid him during their final months together. She was better off without him.
Nora perched on one of the stools next to the kitchen island.
“Yeah, they’re fine. They’re asleep. Jeff is with them.”
Ethan leaned against the island, finally claiming victory in his battle with the foil.
“Did you decide yet? About maybe letting me have them for the week next time?”
Her pert nose crinkled. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You know it’s not really supposed to work that way.”
His heart sank. Audrey’s voice echoed in his mind:Don’t you want to see your girls more?Maybe she was on to something. If Nora believed that he’d gotten his act together, he might have an opening to renegotiate the custody agreement. Go fifty-fifty, like he’d wanted. Even though their relationship had improved by leaps and bounds since their divorce, she still brushed off all attempts to discuss it. The subtext was clear, fair or not:how can you take care of them when you can’t even take care of yourself?
In retrospect, he understood her caution back when they’d first separated, in those hazy, dark days after Sam’s death. But he was on his best behavior these days. Around the girls, at least. She just refused to see it, understandably skeptical after so many years of his worst.
“Right. Well. What brings you over here, then?” he asked through a mouthful of carne asada. Before Nora could answer, he was back in the fridge, rummaging around for some hot sauce.
“Oh, you know, your standard wellness check,” she deadpanned. They both knew she was only half kidding.
Ethan dumped the Valentina on his burrito and took another enormous bite, closing his eyes with pleasure. How long had it been since he’d eaten? He couldn’t quite remember. He gestured with the burrito, doing a few exaggerated strongman poses, feeling fortified.
“How do I look?”
Nora’s face twisted in a pained smile. He saw she was looking past him at the beer bottle he’d abandoned on the counter.
“What number is that?”
He shrugged. “You come over to count my beers, Nor?”
“Not exclusively.” She fidgeted, toying with the sleeve of hersweater. “Has Paul talked to you about the Lincoln Center thing? Have they contacted him?”
“Lincoln Center?”
