Chapter 29
Ethan strodeinto the house and threw his bag on the couch. “Where have you looked?” he asked with no preamble.
“Inside. Bailey’s looking again.”
He swivelled back to the front door. “I’ll do a door knock.”
My pulse beat erratically. I caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “You don’t think Max took him, do you?”
Ethan turned to face me and placed his hands on my upper arms. “Timmy can be very quick. He could have got out when we left this morning.”
“Surely we would have noticed.”
Ethan gave my arms a firm rub. “Let’s try to find him before we jump to conclusions.”
“OK.”
It made sense. At least one of us was calm under pressure.
“I’m going to start next door and work my way down. Go and help Rose.”
Did he mean help her or supervise her to make sure she was safe? It didn’t matter. Helping her would serve both purposes.
I went outside and started searching with Rose. It could be a coincidence that Timmy had gone missing the day Max showed up again. Ethan was right. Timmy liked to run out the door with us. Maybe we hadn’t noticed him this morning. And really, would Max stoop that low? Maybe if he was here to save the day and rescuing the cat would make him look good. But he wasn’t here.
Ethan was walking through the house next door calling for Timmy. His footsteps and voice bounced off the walls of the empty rooms. He’d not even given a second thought to helping. If it were Max in the same situation, he would have grumbled about the stupid fucking cat.
If Ethan caring for us as a family was just a front, he was putting up a good one. Maybe I was reading too much into this. For the first time in years, I was uncertain, scared. And Ethan was offering us security. That’s all it was. The way I reacted to his touch and the way he looked at me was a product of that.
Ethan came out of the house. He spotted me and shook his head before moving on to the next house. Rose and I had exhausted searching the yard and under the house.
Bailey came out the front door. “He’s not inside.”
Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “Where is he, Mummy?”
I took her hand. “Let’s check the yard next door. Maybe he’s there.”
The three of us made our way there and started searching. If Timmy was here, he would have come by now. He always came when the kids called. I scanned the beach. I doubt he’d go there.
“Look who I found,” Ethan said, coming towards us with Timmy in hand.
Rose ran to him, took Timmy in her arms, and smooched and admonished him at the same time.
“Where was he?” Bailey asked, giving Timmy a pat.
“He was locked in the garage two houses down. He must have been there all afternoon. The people said they got home and parked a little after lunch.”
“Oh, poor Timmy,” Rose cooed. “You must be hungry.” She carried him into the house and straight to his food bowl in the laundry.
“Thank you for your help,” I said to Ethan.
“No problem.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to go out in the boat this afternoon.”
“I can go tomorrow.”
Bailey spun to face us. “We can still go. There’s time before dinner.” He moved from foot to foot, raising his eyebrows in invitation.
Ethan laughed. “Don’t you have homework to do?”
“Nah, school’s nearly finished. We don’t get homework anymore.”
Ethan turned his attention to me and lifted his shoulder. I sighed. I wasn’t going to win this one. “Rose,” I called out. “Do you want to go for a swim with the sea lions?”
She appeared in the laundry doorway almost instantly. “What about Timmy?”
“I think he’s had enough adventure for one day,” I said.
* * *
I anchored the boat,and the kids made their way to the stairs. The water was calm, lapping softly against the hull. Clouds flitted across the sky, casting shadows in the water.
“Stay close, this won’t be a long swim,” I said.
They nodded and jumped into the water. Rose squealed. The sea lions on shore perked up.
Ethan peeled his t-shirt off. His golden, tanned skin glowed. How did someone who did no exercise except when he was out here and ate like a king look like that? Why couldn’t he have a dad bod?
My eyes raked over his chest, lower still, to the small trail of hair just above his shorts. I swallowed, nearly choking. I corrected my gaze to Ethan’s eyes which were watching me.
Fuck. Just act normal.
If blushing like a red sunset was normal, I was nailing it.
“Aren’t you going to work?” I managed to ask. As if it wasn’t already obvious. I mean everyone took their shirt off to work, didn’t they?
“No. I thought a swim would be a good way to end the day.”
I nodded. “Good plan.”
“Are you coming in?”
“Sure.”
It would be a good way to cool off. And keep myself distracted. From him. I pulled my dress off and followed him down the stairs in my swim shorts and crop top. Before I could swim away to get some distance, Ethan pointed to the children. “Look, the injured sea lion is playing with them.”
Sure enough, the sea lion was swimming circles around them and then darting off for them to follow.
“At least there are two humans in the world he likes,” I said.
“And you,” Ethan said. “He’s never as wary with you as he is me.”
A sea lion darted between us, pushing us apart. Ethan chuckled and dove down to the sand after it. I swam in the opposite direction, smiling to myself. Ethan was right. This was a good end to the day. Spending time with the people you loved, or liked in Ethan’s case, was never a bad thing.