Epilogue
Thanksgiving last year was a horror show of broken hearts and debilitating secrets.
This year—today—was still undetermined if it would be a raving success or ticket box bomb.
Ethan and I, Monica and Steven, Mom and Dad, and Stella and Mary all under one roof and trying not to misstep and fall through the already razor-thin ice we were all on.
“On a scale of one to ten, how much do you think your dad hates me?”
I shifted in the passenger seat to Ethan, whose stare was wary on my parents’ house like my dad might come out with a shotgun at any second. Any words of consolation I had planned got caught in my throat as I looked to him, his beauty choking my words to silence.
The sun pouring in through the car’s window glistened his skin golden, and his thick hair shined with the same hue.
He’d trimmed his beard up nice and short, the dark hairs decorating and accentuating the defined cut of his jawline and chin.
And then he looked to me, eyes of crystalized beauty sparkling as he caught my thieving gaze, the curve of his mouth inching up.
I rolled my lips between my teeth to bite down on the grin that tried to break free. I’d been caught if the blush firing up my cheeks was any proof. “Sorry,” I mumbled, tucking loose hair behind my ear.
Ethan’s eyebrows flattened, his smile following suit.
“If you ever apologize again for checking me out, we’re going to have a fight. A big one.”
Laughter sputtered free, padding the car in carefree joy. I nodded, swallowing down the urge to apologize for apologizing. I was getting better about that, but it was still a work in progress.
“And to answer your question, he doesn’t hate you.”
“He definitely does not like me.”
“Well, you have slept with both of his daughters, so…”
Ethan blinked at me several times, expression straight-faced and unresponsive, and I had to laugh.
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You should be proud that I just made a joke about it instead of wallowing in the awkwardness of it all like usual.”
To that, Ethan blinked slowly, appreciation glossing over his stare. “You’re right, and I am.” Then he eased his way closer, leaning over the armrest dividing us in the car. “Just keep the jokes coming all throughout dinner, all right?”
“Oh, nope. That was the only one I had in me. I’m all ‘using humor to mask an entire family’s discomfort’ed out.”
Ethan hummed deep in his throat, shaking his head and turning my heart to mush with the lazy smile curling up his perfect lips. “I don’t believe that. My girl’s got jokes.”
“Your girl’s got anxiety,” I countered, voice dropping low as Ethan neared until we were only a breath’s kiss away.
“And that’s okay.” Tingles simmered along my mouth as Ethan peppered in a delicate kiss and pulled back far too soon. I barely held back my whimper as he parted our quick connection to gaze at me with compassion gleaming through. “Today’s going to be weird for everyone, but we’ll get through it.”
“I think I need more encouragement,” I breathed, focus locked on his soft mouth. I watched his lips peel up, teeth shining like pearls beneath. His fingers gently clasped my chin, angling my head back to settle his lips between mine, the taste of Heaven teasing on my tongue.
I melted into him with a sigh, feeling the prickles of anxiety in my chest quiet to a hush with every sweeping caress of Ethan’s mouth over mine. I let him take me, absorb my worries for today and bleed them dry until I was nothing but butterflies and happiness beneath his kiss.
It’d been a little over a month since our first date, and it sort of became the date that just never ended.
We’d found a way to see each other every day since.
We made time between work and dance and rehearsals to breathe and kiss and love each other as much as we’d missed out on in the last year. We couldn’t get enough of the other.
It started the night of our first date when he tried to leave after we spent the rest of the date at my apartment rather than the ice skating and dinner I had planned.
We ordered pizza and stayed in, talking and touching as much as we could, never going a minute longer without doing one or the other.
When it came time to say goodnight, he kissed me and the ache of longing stained my lips as he left. My chest literally hurt as I stood alone in my apartment after the greatest night of my life, but not even two minutes later, there was a knock on my door.
I knew it was him before I opened it by the way my heart swelled at the sense of its other half. I flung the door open and Ethan swept me up in his arms, kicking the door closed behind him, and never left.
We’d spent too much time fighting and running away from what it was between us, and now we had all the time in the world to cherish it, and we wouldn’t let a second go to waste.
“You ready to go inside now?” Ethan asked as he drew back.
“No.”
“Really, what’s the worst that can happen?”
“My entire family hates us and throws us out before we even get to carve the turkey.”
The handsome face in front of me cracked with an endearing smile, and he touched one last kiss of affection to my lips.
“Everyone in there already loves you, and we both know how irresistibly lovable I am when I turn on the charm. I’ll flash your parents one of these—” He paused and let shine an admittedly breath-taking smile, his eyes dazzling like the most magnificent stars before dropping back down to me. “And they’ll be goners.”
Laughter tilted my head back to sing freely throughout the car. “You’re so dumb.”
“It worked on you,” he mused deeply, brushing his nose against mine.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t work that well on my parents.”
He batted a mischievous wink and pecked the tip of my nose.
“Let’s go.”
We exited the car and grabbed our overnight bags out of the trunk, the silver Lexus sitting next to Ethan’s car twisting my stomach like a stress ball, each breath in and out a painful squeeze. Steven and Monica were already here.
Ethan and I walked the steps to my childhood home, every step accompanied by images flashing in my head of Monica’s reaction when she saw Ethan and I come through the door together.
She knew we were coming. She knew we were together.
We’d talked about it over the phone, but there was only so much talking and reassuring someone could do to prepare themselves for an encounter quite like the one we’d share today.
The door was unlocked as expected, and all of my breathable air held tight in my chest as we stepped inside—
Only to be greeted by a living room where only the brightly colored furniture was there to welcome us in.
No Monica. No Steven. No Mom. No Dad.
“Oh man, did they all ditch before we even got here?” Ethan joked under his breath, pushing a pathetic laugh over top of my lips.
I shook my head during my half-laugh. “They wouldn’t…” The notion drifted off, hanging in the air and tickling a feather of fear over my anxious thoughts.
Oh my God, would they?
“Relax.” Ethan pressed his lips to the top of my head, the deep notes of his voice sinking through my pores and soothing the pitter-patter of my heart. “What’s it you were just saying about using humor to get through this?” he reminded. “They’re here somewhere.”
I breathed out a shaking exhale and nodded. He was right. I was just in my head.
“Mom?” I called out carefully.
Clanks of silverware rang out from the kitchen, followed shortly after by the sight of my mother and an immediate sweep of relief. She was a vision of fair-hair styled to a neat bob and a smile like a breath of fresh air plastered on her face.
“Sorry, baby girl, I didn’t hear you guys come in!”
“Oh, it’s okay.” I brushed off my dramatic worries and pulled her in for a hug. She held me tight and drew back, turning her attention to Ethan.
He bowed his head in a nod, giving her a closed-lipped greeting that was pulled up on both cheeks with the thin threads he knew he was hanging on by with my parents. “Nice to see you again, ma’am.”
My mom eyed him for a few seconds, letting us both dangle in her silence.
The last time they’d seen each other, Ethan wasn’t the man who broke both of her daughter’s hearts in one go.
He wasn’t the man who helped drive one of her daughters to unleash an inexplicable betrayal on the other that would wedge our family apart for months.
Back then, he was simply a man in love with one of her daughters.
Just not the one she thought.
Mom arched a quizzical eyebrow at Ethan. “You came with the right daughter this time, I see.”
“Oh my god.” Horror ducked my head to hide against Ethan’s shoulder, my gut rolling around her blunt words.
Right for the jugular. Okay, mom.
Ethan sucked in a sharp breath like she’d kicked him in the stomach, and I wanted to throttle my mother by the shoulders and scream. Thankfully, Ethan was a hell of a lot more composed than I would have been and held his own against my mother’s hard-hitting comment.
“I did, and I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused your family. That was never my intention.”
“Well, I’d think not.” My mother barked a stiff chortle. “That’s hardly a mess anyone expects to find themselves in.”
With my forehead still buried into Ethan’s arm, I shook my head in agreement.
“Though, it did make sense when Monica told us what happened.”
At that, I had to butt in. “What do you mean it made sense?”
“Baby, you know I’ve got a sixth sense for these kinds of things.” She tapped her forefinger to her temple with a pinched expression. Then she tagged on, “Plus, the way this guy looked at you all last Thanksgiving wasn’t exactly subtle.”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. “Yeah, I was pretty head over heels for her at that point.” He lent his gaze down to me, and the love he spoke about was right there, unapologetic and beaming. “And very bad at hiding it.”