The car stopped outside a busy bar. Once she was out and the Uber was gone, another text buzzed on her phone.
Polly: Calling now.
She set her bag against the wall of the bar, and when the call came through, she didn’t look at the screen.
“Polly?”
“No. It’s Lilith.”
Air froze in Maggie’s lungs at her aunt’s voice, a million prickles digging into her skin.
“Why did you leave?” the older woman asked, voice thin. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”
“A conversation?” Maggie almost laughed at the sheer absurdity in that statement. “You told me my mother is better off dead than with me.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
The beeping of another call sounded over the line.Thatwas Polly. “I’m hanging up now.”
“Why? So you can run to that boyfriend of yours? You really think he just sits around waiting for your visits?” This time, Lilith laughed. “Maggie, you were barely holding on to him when you both lived in the same town. Hell, let’s look at your careers—you’re a flight attendant, a glorified waitress. While he’s a Navy SEAL, one of the most elite units in the military.”
Maggie’s fingers began to shake again, and she wasn’t sure if it was from anger or something else. Something deeper. Because yes, she’d had those exact thoughts more often than she should have. And she knew they came from the deep insecurity that her aunt had instilled.
“You’re my niece, Maggie, but you’re nothing special,” her aunt continued, words designed to hurt. To cut inside her and hollow her out. “A guy like Ethan will find himself the kind of woman who’s all the things you’re not. I’m not saying this to be cruel, butsomeoneneeds to tell you. I don’t want you gettinga shock when you suddenly find him with another woman and wonder why.”
Maggie flinched. “I’m blocking your number. And I never want to hear from you again.”
“Maggie—”
She canceled the call, then went straight into her aunt’s contact and blocked it.
But that didn’t stop Lilith’s ugly words from sitting beneath her skin and burning her from the inside out.
Her phone rang again, and Polly’s name flashed on the screen. But she didn’t answer the call. She needed to see Ethan, and she needed to see him now. He had this way of making the broken parts of her feel a little more whole.
She lifted her bag and stepped into the bar. It was loud and busy with throngs of people congesting the space. Jesus, there was barely room to move.
Ethan had brought her here a couple of times. They always drank and danced and she just felt…light. The opposite of tonight.
She slipped through the crowd, duffel bag on her shoulder. When she reached the bar, she turned. It took less than ten seconds to spot him.
He stood at the pool table, stick in hand, wearing a tight white shirt and jeans, his tanned skin glowing even in the dimly lit bar. His team members were scattered around him, talking and drinking.
But it was the woman playing pool with Ethan who Maggie couldn’t look away from. When she walked past him, she playfully shoved his shoulder.
She was tall and toned, with bright red hair, and wore high-rise jeans and a top that showed her smooth shoulders and a strip of stomach. She couldn’t be a SEAL. Maybe she was in another branch of the military.
But that wasn’t what really had Maggie staring. It was the wayEthanlooked ather. With warmth and ease and affection.
This woman was his equal. Maybe even the kind of woman her aunt had warned her he’d find.
Because Lilith was right. Ethanwasa Navy SEAL. He was part of an elite special operations sector of the military. While she was…
Nothing special.
Barely held on to him when she lived in the same town.
Her aunt’s words played over in her head.
