Page 65 of Return To You

“Mallory, so nice to see you! Right this way. Let’s get you settled.” I let Mallory step in front of me and dart my eyes at Ethan.

He turns to me with a smile that does nothing to strengthen my resolve. Then he goes back to arranging the display, his stature crowding the place in a way that makes me want to go back to my bedroom, me against the wall, his knee between my...

Ohmygod, what am I doing? This has to stop.

But also? Yeah, we do need to talk.

Just not right now. And not here.

eighteen

Ethan

“Anything else you need me to do?” The missing packages have been retrieved from two counties over and delivered, the products shelved just like Grace wants them to be (Claudia said so herself), the boxes have been flattened and placed in the recycling dumpster.

But I still haven’t been able to talk to Grace. She’s been too busy.

“No thank you, young man,” Claudia says. “You’ve been a godsend.”

Tell that to Grace.

I glance toward the door to the treatment room.

Claudia smiles kindly at me. “You might want to try her another day.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I get to the door.

“Oh and Ethan?”

“Yes?”

She hands me a bunch of brochures for A Touch Of Grace, and I take them awkwardly, not sure what I’m supposed to do with that. “For your mother and her friends,” she says, then hesitates. “Grace… she might need a little time. Just… don’t give up too soon on her.”

I nod and get on my bike. Too soon? What is that supposed to mean? She keeps mementos of anything that has to do with us. Yet she doesn’t want to talk to me. Doesn’t seem interested in me. At least, not the way she used to be.

Okay—maybe not all the time. Sure, she wasn’t indifferent when I had her straddling my knee. Fuck, the way her pulse beat in her wrists? The glaze in her eyes? Her panting breaths?

The way her whole body so effortlessly molded against mine, followed my lead—fuck but I wanted to take her. All she needed to do was say the word. Just say my name in that way that used to drive me crazy.

Still does.

But she didn’t.

I’ll get to the bottom of this. I’ll have this conversation with her. Meanwhile, I just need to kill time. So I go to my brother’s pub.

Lazy’s is crowded, both on the sidewalk and inside. I find a free stool at the bar, close to the register. Perfect. I’ll wait ’til it quiets down and see if he knows anything about what’s up with Grace. I could start there. It would help to have some context.

“Hey, Justin, when’s your next community dinner?” a female voice asks behind me just as Justin storms out of the kitchen, holding two burgers and fries.

“Not ’til after foliage, Kiara. I’ll be in touch.”

What’s a community dinner? It’s the first time I’m hearing about that.

Someone taps my shoulder. I turn around to see Colton standing there. “Hey, man, what’s up?”

“Hey! Can I buy you a beer?” Returning the favor seems to be the thing to do. Not sure, though, that he’s who I should be talking to. Just a beer will do.

“Nah, thanks. Still got a car to deliver to a client tonight.” He stands there, though, doesn’t go anywhere. “Yo, Haley, any chance Shane can get me something to go? Anything’ll do.”

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