He hit her number and she answered on the first ring.
“Ethan. This is a surprise.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“Who? Maggie?”
“Yes. Do you know where she is?”
“I don’t. We had a fight and she took off. Sometimes that girl really shows her age. Or lack thereof.” There was a small pause. “I do think it might be over between you two though.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You can’t tell me you’re surprised, Ethan. You live hours apart.”
He hung up. He didn’t believe a word the woman said. She’d never had Maggie’s best interests at heart, and she would lie through her teeth if it meant hurting her niece.
He tried Maggie’s number again, his feet moving down the sidewalk, like he couldn’t stand still.
“Ethan?”
His world stopped at the sound of her voice. “Maggie. Where are you?”
“I, um, I don’t think this is working anymore.”
For a second, he couldn’t tell if he’d heard her right. He couldn’t have. It wasn’t possible. But the silence stretched andthe words hung in the air, impossible to fit inside his head. “You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t know what we were thinking. You work in San Diego. I’m in LA. We both travel for our jobs. And tonight I needed you but you…you weren’t there. This just isn’t working.”
“Where are you? I’ll come to you. We’ll talk about this.” Panic was alive in his chest, bleeding into his voice.
“No, Ethan, you’re not listening to me. I’m not right for you?—”
“What the hell are you talking about? Is this Lilith getting into your head? Did she say something?”
“This is me. Sometimes I feel like I’m clawing my body apart trying to mold myself into something that’s enough for you, because you’re so much.”
“You are everything I’ve ever wanted and needed.”
“I don’t feel that way. And I can’t keep asking you to reassure me. You deserve someone who…who’s brave and strong and knows her worth.”
“Goddammit, Maggie, please tell me where you are!”
Her breathing grew louder, and when she spoke, her voice cracked. “I need to go.”
“Don’t—”
The line cut out.
He tried her again and again. She didn’t answer. Not a single call. He tried Polly, but she didn’t answer either.
Connor and Jay stepped out of the bar, but he couldn’t look at them.
All he could do was stand there, wondering what just happened, and how the hell he was supposed to survive this.
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