Page 29 of Defining Moments

She nodded. “I’m sorry to be telling you all of this. I just wanted to let you know that our failed engagement had nothing to do with Ethan, or me. We were never meant to marry. We were connected through Jake alone.

“He speaks extremely highly of you. For the first time, I can see he’s found someone he truly loves. Please take care of him.” she said as she finished and turned to leave the bathroom.

As Beth left, I stood there, stunned by the revelation, and realizing the depth of the shared history I had just stumbled upon.

Chapter 26: Sasha

My mind was spinning as I stumbled into my condo well after midnight later that night.

Natalie had gone home with one of the cute guys she'd been flirting with at the bar and though his friend was tempting, the night had been ruined by my run-in with Beth. I’d said goodbye to the group shortly after returning from the bathroom and called an Uber to take me home.

Elizabeth was Beth. Beth was Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, or Beth, was Ethan’s ex-fiancé, who was also his deceased best friend’s widowed wife.

The intertwined story caused my head to spin even more than the shots of vodka we’d taken all night. I needed to sit down.

I collapsed on the couch, my face in my hands as I heard my phone ring nearby.

Grasping in the dark, I felt around, trying to locate it but before I could, the ringing stopped.

“Shit.” I mumbled.

Thankfully, it immediately began ringing again and the illumination underneath the couch alerted me to its presence. I dropped to the ground and reached until my fingers brushed the cool screen, pulling it out.

Noticing the name on the screen I froze – Ethan.

I swiped up but before I could say anything, the spins started to overtake me, so I laid down on the floor instead of attempting to climb back up to the couch.

“Sasha?” His voice was urgent on the other line.

I fumbled for the phone doing my best to bring it to my ear with my now very limp arm.

“Ethan?”

“Sasha, where are you right now.”

“I’m in the dark.”

“Did you leave with that man?” His voice was low, and I could tell, even in my drunken haze, that he was furious.

“What if I did, Ethan? You don’t want anything to do with me. You made that clear a week ago. And tell Beth to stop spying on me. She’s your ex-fiancé and I’m your ex-girlfriend. She doesn’t have to be worried about competition. She wins.”

Ethan let out a low sigh. “Sasha, I’m serious. Where are you?” He responded. “Beth only called me because she was concerned when she saw you with another man after I’d just talked to her about you.”

Though I was extremely drunk at this point, I knew this was a dangerous game to play with him, so I revealed the truth.

“I’m at home. Alone. Because of you.” I sighed dramatically.

He let out a low breath on the other line and I could feel myself start to drift off into an alcohol induced rest but before I did, I knew I needed to get something off my chest.

“I came to a very pro-found realization tonight.” I said as I slurred my words, my finger pointed into the dark air of my condo.

“We both struggle to move forward with our lives because we’re too scared to confront our pasts. We’ll never be able to be with someone in a healthy manner until we do that.

“We have, too many ‘unaddressed wounds’ is what Natalie calls it.” I said waving my arms around my empty condo as I said ‘unaddressed.’ “If we don’t address them, they are just going to keep surfacing.”

Ethan sighed on the other line. “Sasha, I know you’re drunk, but there is some truth behind what you said. We both have a lot that we need to heal from to move forward. I’m working on it, but I don’t want to drag you into my mess. You’ve said yourself that every man you’ve allowed to get close has hurt you in some way. I don’t want to be just another man who lets you down.”

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