Page 50 of Back to You

“I miss him too,” Ethan whispered, petting the cat. “I miss him too.”

CHAPTER 12

ETHAN READ THROUGH the brief on the McDaniels case, making notes for himself. In the month since Brandon had left, Ethan had plowed through preparation for multiple cases, and had become a darling of the partners.

Always ready to help. Always willing to work.

Always there.

He’d asked Lake to begin looking in on Barnabus at night so the cat stayed fed and watered. Lake had just given him a sad look from those big blue eyes, and nodded.

He’d taken to letting Barnabus into the bedroom with him at night so he had someone to cuddle with. The cat was clearly missing his favorite human, but he was willing to settle for Ethan.

He knew he was losing weight because his suits were looser, he just couldn’t be bothered to care. He usually ate lunch, due to the combined bullying of Lake and Nia. Sometimes Lake brought him dinner and forced him to eat it.

He felt bad at the toll his ruined life was taking on his best friend. He’d told Lake multiple times that he was okay and that Lake didn’t have to babysit him, but Lake would just shake his head and say cryptically, “I made a promise.”

Ethan didn’t bother asking more.

It was still radio silence from Brandon, though he’d come by the condo when Ethan was at work to grab more of his things. He didn’t really know what to think of that. Was he okay? Was he as miserable as Ethan? He didn’t want Brandon to be miserable, but he couldn’t help but hope he still loved Ethan enough to feel pain over their separation.

He still couldn’t say “break up.” It felt too real. Too final.

“Thompson!” Cartwright crowed as he came into the office. “Just the man I was looking for.”

“Yes sir?”

“Do you have the discovery notes for the Travis case?”

“Yes sir, right here. I went ahead and added in my notes from the interviews and the timeline breakdown.”

“You’re always on top of things, Thompson. I can always count on you!”

With that, Cartwright sailed back out the door.

Most people in the office noticed his change in personality and appearance, but not Cartwright. The man was oblivious to anything that wasn’t work.

Not a bad thing, Ethan thought. At least he didn’t have to deal with the real world that way.

He went back to work, not noticing as the hours ticked by. He was jolted out of his concentration by his door opening.

“Lunch time!” Lake said, gesturing with the bag in his hand.

“You don’t have to bring me lunch, Lake, I told you that.” Ethan’s voice had an almost dead quality to it, just like it had since Brandon had left.

“Well, if I don’t you won’t eat. And since I’m trying to be better about remembering to eat, you get to benefit from it. The other day I actually stopped working in the middle of a project just to go get dinner, can you believe it? Everyone else in the office looked so surprised, it was funny.”

Ethan smiled wanly and took the food Lake passed him. He didn’t look at what it was — he didn’t really care. He’d eat it to make Lake happy. He owed Lake.

He let Lake’s chatter wash over him as he ate, just enjoying the flow of his voice. He felt beyond the ability to make conversation these days, unless it was about work.

“Ethan?”

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you were heading home at 5.”

“No, I’m nearly done with these notes, and after that I want to get a head start on preparing for tomorrow’s court date.”

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