Over the next hour, every five minutes or so my traitorous eyes kept flicking over to Ethan. He kept playing with that bitch’s blond hair, or her necklace, or she’d touch his arm. They were fucking flirting so bad they were seconds away from making a baby and it made me livid. Not once did I catch Ethan looking at me. Not once. I was dead to him and that killed me.
My phone buzzed and I pulled up a text from “Psycho Ex,” as I’d lovingly named Bryce’s number.
I miss your sweet potato casserole.
I growled in frustration at the delusional world this man was living in.
Fuck off and die. You’re Blocked.
I texted back and then blocked his number. Something I should have done ages ago. Part of me feared blocking him wouldn’t allow me to keep tabs on him, but really he was keeping tabs on me and I was sick of hearing from him.
I was so frustrated with Ethan and Bryce and the whole world that when I spun with four beers in my hands I didn’t realize until it was too late. I stepped right into the pathway of the bathroom and crashed into Ethan. Beers crashed to the floor and shattered at my feet. We were smashed up against one another, broken beer glass all around us.
“Fuck!” I yelled, tears streaming down my face as I looked up to stare into his blue eyes. The anger was gone and something had replaced it.
Sympathy.
“This is becoming your signature move,” he said, keeping his rock hard body pressed against mine even though he could step backward if he wanted.
It was something the old funny Ethan would say; I laughed while tears streamed down my face, because I was a fucking mess. My body, pressed against his, felt so good I didn’t want to let go, but I had to. Pulling back, I gave him a weak smile. I couldn’t stop crying. What an idiot I must look like. Tears just flowed down my face and I couldn’t look him in the eye.
“I’m so sorry.” I pinned my gaze at his feet watching the broken glass and liquid spill out onto the floor.
He wiped a tear from my cheek and I finally met his electric blue eyes. “Me too. Goodbye, Hailey.”
Then he walked away, crunching glass as he went.
It felt like goodbye, like goodbye forever. That felt like closure and it shocked the shit out of me. I wasn’t ready to let Ethan go. I didn’t want closure. I didn’t care what Bryce did to me, I’d warn Ethan about him and let him make his own decision, but I couldn’t live without him knowing how I really felt. I needed to tell him that I loved him back.
I ran over to the bar. “Mickey, family emergency, can I get cut early?”
He gave me a look, but then scanned the bar, which was slowly emptying out. “Alright, doll. Thanks for your help tonight.”
I nodded and quickly ran to grab the broom and dustbin. With ninja skills I mopped that glass up in record time and put the “wet floor caution” sign out after I was done.
Then I ran to Angela, handing her the four beers I was supposed to drop at her table.
“Angela, I’m cut. Wrap up my station?” I asked her, trying to work as fast as I could.
She nodded, taking the beers from me. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” I replied, running into the back room to clock out and drop off my apron. I was gone all of three minutes, and when I returned and ran up to Ethan’s table to declare my undying love, he was gone. His friends too.
No!
Calling up an Uber, I paced the sidewalk as I waited the four agonizing minutes for it to get there. Where was Ethan headed tonight? It was 1AM on Christmas. Probably home. Probably home with his date to…
No.
When I got in the Uber, I barked off the address and told him to drive like this was the fuckingAmazing Race. He did not disappoint. Speeding through downtown, he deposited me on Ethan’s doorstep in record time. There was a Mustang in the driveway and I didn’t know whose car that was, but I hoped he was home.
“Thanks!” I watched him drive off and decided that if Ethan wasn’t home, I would sit on his doorstep and wait all night if I had to. He might be too angry to forgive me, or he might have moved on, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell him the truth.
Without overthinking it, I stepped up to the door and the sound of rock music blared out from behind it. Reaching my fist back, I banged on the door like a cop and the music turned off. Then it wrenched open and Ethan was standing there, eyes narrowed.
“Hailey?”
“Who is it?” A blond head peeped up behind him and looked down at me.
