Page 38 of Awakening

“I won’t lie. I’m disappointed that you didn’t come home with me, but I know how overwhelming this has been.” He pauses for a moment. “I feel terrible that I wasn’t with you when you woke up in the hospital. Were you scared?”

“Not at first. Anthony was with me, and I didn’t realize I was missing five years of my life at the time. Once I knew, well…it’s been surreal.” He nods and his jaw tightens again. “I’m sorry Anthony makes you uncomfortable, but please know he’s been a good friend to me. If it weren’t for him, I still may not know anything about my current life. He hasn’t tried to cross any lines beyond friendship, Ethan. You don’t have to worry.”

“I think we may have to agree to disagree about that, Olivia.”

I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the waiter approaching our table with our meal. “Here we are,” he says, placing our plates on the table. “Is there anything else I can get you at the moment?”

“No, thank you,” Ethan says, his voice still tense.

“Very good, then. Please do let me know if I can be of assistance,” he says with a nod before walking away. If only he could help with this. There wouldn’t be a tip large enough.

“So, tell me about how we met.”

Ethan looks at me with those steel blue eyes and a big grin. “We met at a wedding reception. Do you remember Summer and Jeff?”

“Oh, I remember Summer. She and I had classes together in Boulder. I’m drawing a blank on Jeff, though. They must have met somewhere in my memory gap. Were you there for the bride or groom?”

“Jeff works for my family’s real estate development company. Chloe and Nick are actually the ones who introduced you to me, though.”

“And you’ve known Nick and Chloe since you were kids?”

“Yep. We grew up together. Nick and I have always been best friends.”

“It’s so strange that I didn’t meet you before then, but then again, Chloe and Nick never really did talk about their hometown very often. So, did you ask me to dance? Did we just start talking?” I ask feeling a bit giddy inside.

“Not exactly,” he says with a grin. “You were actually there with someone else.”

“I was there with a date?”

“More of a fiancé.”

I almost drop my fork. “What? Oh. This is obviously the first I’m hearing of this.”

“Sorry. Should I not have said anything about him?” he asks with concern.

“No, it’s fine. I want to know everything about the time I’m missing.” I’ll ask Chloe more about that later. I have a feeling Ethan won’t want to go into great detail talking about my former fiancé. “So, you and I must have reconnected after that night then? The fiancé and I must have broken up?”

“Actually, you and I couldn’t keep our eyes off of each other at the wedding reception. You left the table to use the ladies’ room, and I followed you a couple minutes later. That’s when we kissed.”

My eyes widen and I cough on my expensive sip of wine. “Excuse me? Are you really telling me I kissed you at a wedding reception I was attending with my fiancé?”

“Yeah, but your fiancé was a real dick.” My mouth drops open and I don’t know what to say. “You can ask Chloe and Nick if you don’t believe me,” he says with a grin.

I can’t help but giggle. “I sound like a hoe.”

Ethan shakes his head and laughs. “You are the furthest thing from a hoe. In fact, you tried denying your feelings for me in order to remain loyal to him, even though you knew he wasn’t the one for you anymore. With a little persuasion, I was able to make you see we were meant to be together, and we were inseparable ever since.”

“Wow. I was not expecting that. I mean, Ethan, I cheated on someone,” I say as my heart sinks.

“You have to trust me when I say our situation wasn’t typical, Olivia,” he says, taking my hand. “We were quite literally meant to be.”

“So, first date?”

“Dinner at a Mexican restaurant.”

“Okay, now that I believe,” I say with a laugh.

“You do love some Mexican food and a good margarita,” he says, looking fondly into my eyes.

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