Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
The front door opened and I turned to see Stratton coming out to join me.
“She left,” I said unnecessarily.
“Yeah.” He cocked his head to the side. “You okay?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Fine.” I chewed on my lip.
“Gotta stop doing that, gremlin.” He touched my mouth. “It’s distracting.”
“I should wash my face,” I said. “So you know what I look like without full armor.”
“You’ll be more beautiful than you are now.”
My insides hummed and then I remembered the unpleasant phone call I needed to make.
“I have to take care of something,” I said.
“All right.”
“A phone call.” I swallowed. “To my . . . to Ethan.”
“And what will you be telling Ethan?” he asked.
“You know what I’ll tell him.”
“That you met someone.”
My brow furrowed and I shook my head. “No.”
“But we did meet.”
“Yes. But this isn’t about you.”
“What’s it about then?”
“Me realizing that my relationship with him is over.”
“Yeah, because you met me.” He took a step closer. “If you hadn’t met me, you’d still be letting him string you along until he was ready, or until he ended it.”
I glared up at him for daring to speak the truth. “You make me sound like squirrel willing to accept peanuts.”
It was his turn to glare. “Because you are expecting peanuts, when you should be expecting more. You’re a romantic with a soft heart and he’s a stupid bastard for not safeguarding it like the treasure that it is. He’s a boy. You need a man. And now you’ve got one.”
My anger was a bomb he’d diffused in seconds.
“I also know you won’t let me touch you until you’re free and clear of this emotional entanglement.” He leaned down and kissed my nose. “So, untangle.”
He pulled back. “I’ll be inside when you’re ready to go.”
“And where are we going?” I asked.
“You tell me, gremlin.” He kissed my lips. Quick. A peck. A tease.
And then he left me alone.
I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen. I opened it and listened to Ethan’s voicemail, asking me to call him whenever I had the chance.
Taking a deep breath, I pressed his name. He answered on the first ring.
“Babe,” he greeted. “I’ve got great news. My meeting went well. Really well. So well that they offered me a promotion.”
“That’s great, Ethan,” I said, trying to inject excitement into my voice.
“Yeah, it is. You know what’s even better? They’re paying for a relocation to Coeur d’Alene. I mean, I could work remote before, but now they’re paying for the move. It’s perfect.”
Silence permeated the other end of the line while he waited for me to react.
“Babe?” he pressed. “Isn’t that good news? Now we can be together.”
“But the last time I visited, you said you didn’t want to move to Coeur d’Alene.”
“Things changed. I don’t want to do long distance, and now we won’t have to. I’ll move to Coeur d’Alene, we’ll get a place together and—”
“Hang on a second,” I interrupted.
“What? Aren’t you happy?”
“Happy? Ethan, you plan your life and expect me to fit in around it. You wanted to stay in Seattle for your job. I understood that. When I floated the idea of you moving to Coeur d’Alene eventually, you shut me down.” I paused. “Who was she, Ethan?”
“Excuse me?”
“Who was she?” I demanded. “Because I know there was someone else. Your reluctance to leave Seattle . . . but now you suddenly want to move to Coeur d’Alene to be with me? No, I don’t buy it.”
“It was meaningless,” he finally admitted with an exhale. “I swear. She moved to Beijing two weeks ago and—”
“And I’m your back up plan,” I snapped. “Well, I’ve got news for you. You can move to Coeur d’Alene if you want. But I won’t be moving in with you. You and I are done.”
Anger and resentment about putting my life on hold took me by the throat and gave me a hearty shake, and then something came loose.
My filter.
“And just so you know—you’re a terrible lay.”
I hung up the phone, my cheeks blistering with heat.
A wooden plank creaked behind me.
I stiffened and turned around. Slowly.
The Calhoun brothers were standing on the porch of the house. And they’d clearly heard everything I’d said.
“Uh, sorry. Didn’t seem like a good idea to interrupt and let you know we were here,” Garrett said with a wide grin.
“We were on our way to the barn,” Gideon explained, shooting his older brother a look. “And yeah, we’re going now.”
Griffin didn’t even bother saying anything.
The three of them walked down the porch steps and headed to the barn.
I groaned in embarrassment. And then I marched inside the house. Stratton was sitting at the kitchen table and Jo was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Jo?” I asked.
“Her daughter called.” He looked at me. “You okay?”
“Whiskey,” I stated. “I need whiskey.”
Stratton rose. “I know just the place.”