Two
Ethan
This was the first weekend I’ve seen Lily with my own eyes since our divorce.
In the past, I sat in my car, staring at the front door of Lily’s house, waiting for the kids to come out.
But that day, something felt different. A cold knot tightened in my gut after Jake mentioned the changes in Lily’s appearance, a feeling I couldn’t shake off.
When the door finally opened, the sight of her took my breath away.
It’s been four years since I’d seen her up close, and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting.
Maybe a new haircut or that she’d finally decided to add purple highlights.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the noticeable change to her body.
My sunshine, the warm light I once knew so well, seemed to have dimmed.
Her skin was pale, and she had dark, bruised rings beneath her eyes. I could tell she’d lost weight by the way her clothes hung loosely on her frame. I wanted to pull her into my arms and demand to know what was wrong.
But after seeing her son, Ollie, I wanted to break down and cry. It kills me knowing she had a son with someone else. The unbearable pain from just seeing him felt like a sword relentlessly piercing my heart.
The knock at the door breaks through my thoughts.
“Come in,” I call out.
When the door opens, Marcus peeks his head in and grins. “Sup, brother.”
I lean back and lay my hands over my stomach. “Not much,” I tell him.
He plops on the leather seat in front of me and opens his suit jacket with a happy sigh. “I got your text. How did it go with Lily?” he asks, running his fingers down his silk tie.
Marcus witnessed every significant event in our relationship: when I fell for her, our wedding day, the births of our children, and when my world imploded.
But even that initial shock paled in comparison to the earthquake that hit when Lily gave birth to a little boy whose eyes weren’t mine, whose tiny, grasping fingers weren’t mine to hold.
Knowing another man touched her, kissed her skin, and stuck his dick inside her made me want to Hulk out.
And underneath the pure rage was an aching grief.
One minute I wanted to put my fist through a wall, and the next I wanted to sob like a baby, even though I had no right to that pain.
I was the one who betrayed her. I was the one who had promised to stay faithful, no matter what came our way.
“It was fine,” I lie.
He smirks. “Yeah, right. We’re not talking about the weather, man. How did she look?”
I let out a long, drawn-out sigh and admit, “Not good.”
He frowns, his posture shifting from relaxed to concerned. “What do you mean by that?”
“She looked sick, like she has the flu but worse.”
“Ebony did say she’s been sick. Maybe she does have the flu.”
I’ve seen her through several illnesses over the years, and her appearance on Friday bore no resemblance to how she looked during any of them.
Desperate to move past the unsettling thoughts, I change the subject and blurt out, “I met her son.” He looks like Lily with those wide, curious, silver eyes, and his dimples reminded me of Jake when he was a baby.
But it was the look he gave me with those big, hopeful eyes, silently pleading, I want to go, too.
Can I come with you? that twisted the knife deeper in my gut.
Marcus lets out a breath. He leans forward, his hands clasped together in front of him. “How are you handling that? I can’t imagine that was easy.”
I let out a bitter chuckle. “I was seeing what I lost. We talked about having more kids.”
“I remember,” he murmurs.
I drag a hand down my face and groan in frustration. “And then I see this little boy, this innocent, happy child, who is everything I ever wanted, but he’s not mine. It’s torture, man.”
“I can only imagine. It’s a painful reminder of what was and what could have been. But it doesn’t do you any good to keep living in the past, Ethan. It’s been four years.”
“I know.”
“She’s moved on, and so have you.”
I meet his gaze. “Have I? Because I don’t really think I have. A part of me is still clinging to the hope that she’ll return to me, that she’ll finally give me another chance.”
He shakes his head, a sad, knowing look in his eyes. “That’s not a healthy mindset, brother.”
Maybe not, but seeing her again, seeing Ollie... It didn’t feel like a chapter was closed. It felt like a door had creaked open, just a sliver, hinting at a second chance for us. Part two of Ethan and Lily.
Our story can’t be over yet.