Page 35 of The Feud

Gaze never wavering, he says, “I think you’re the type of woman who gives a lot of herself without expecting anything in return. The problem was in not having a husband who should’ve wanted to give you all those things, despite you not expecting them.”

Something twists in my chest, reigniting every little hurt that George bestowed upon me over the years and I realize… it wasn’t just the things he said and did to drag me down, but also the things he never did for me. The lack of affirmations, acknowledgments or actions. George didn’t do anything for me.

I try to make light of it. “Lucky for me I found out he was a cheating bastard then, huh?” I turn my attention back to my salad. “Freed me of continued misery.”

“Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt,” Ethan murmurs, and that amplifies the pang in my chest.

Wanting the spotlight off my relationship failures, I turn it on Ethan. “What about you? Ever been married?”

His lips curve upward, his face in profile to me as he stabs his fork into his salad. “Who says I’m not married now?”

“Because you distinctly have the look of a man not married,” I tease.

Ethan barks out a laugh as he brings his fork to his mouth, face turning toward me.

As he chews a bite of salad, his eyebrow lifts silently as if to say he needs more than that vaguery, so I provide it. “If you had a wife, I would have surely met her when I came over the night before last. Instead, your mom met me at the door. Do you all live in the house together?”

Ethan wipes his mouth and shakes his head. “I actually live in the house alone… well, now with Sylvie. My parents moved to a cottage on the farm, Kat lives in an apartment above one of the tack rooms and my brothers share a place in town.”

“Big house for just you and Sylvie.”

“Seems a lot smaller now that Sylvie is there,” Ethan replies and sips his beer.

“How come you live in the big house instead of your parents?” I ask, spearing a tomato.

“They’re fully retired and travel a lot now. I’m the CEO of Blackburn Farms and it seemed to make sense to them. I used to have a house in town, but I sold it and moved back into the homestead two years ago.”

“I can’t even begin to imagine what it takes to run the farm. It’s massive.”

He looks at me as if he’s appraising what I’ve said, before turning back to his salad. His gaze deepens when he says, “I’ll give you a grand tour sometime if you want.”

I don’t reply right away but then respond, “Yeah… sure, that sounds fun.”

Before taking another bite of his salad, he asks, “How come you never got into riding the way your sister did?”

From that point on, we don’t talk about Sylvie. We don’t talk about my asshole husband. Instead, we ask questions, laugh, and get to know each other.

Ethan Blackburn is not what I thought he was. It turns out—and perhaps the martinis play a role—he’s easy to talk to, funny at times and has layers upon layers. By the time our meal is finished, and he insists on paying, I feel like I’ve actually developed a solid friendship with him. He is no longer just an acquaintance or the parent of one of my students. I feel like I could call on Ethan Blackburn if I needed help with something, although I never would. It’s not in my nature to ask for help.

We walk out of the restaurant together and Ethan walks me to my little Volvo sedan. He stands back a few feet with his hands tucked into his jeans as I unlock the door and give a friendly wave goodbye as I slide into the driver’s seat.

“Drive safe,” he says.

“Thanks again for dinner,” I say.

“Thanks for keeping me company.”

And with that, he walks away, across the parking lot to his truck. That would have been the opportune time for him to ask me out on a date but he didn’t, which means he felt nothing during that meal other than perhaps the comfort of new friendship.

Oh well.

That’s fine by me.

As I’ve told my sister, I don’t have time to date anyway.

CHAPTER 13

Ethan

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