Page 93 of All Her Broken Pieces

The brush feels light in my hand as I run it up and down the corded muscle of his forearm.

“You can push a little harder,” he coaxes as Lizzy grows impatient next to me, tapping her arm up and down as her leg bounces in a frantic rhythm. “You’ll get your turn,” he tells her as he runs his hand along her shoulder.

I run the brush up and down a little more as he gives me more direction. “That pressure is perfect. Now, you want to move it around in a random pattern, never rubbing one area too long. She likes it best when you change up the pattern.”

Taking a few more practice swipes on him, I grow confident in my strokes before I turn to Lizzy and move the sponge along her skin. As I apply light pressure to my swirls and strokes, her leg slowly calms its manic bouncing and a small noise escapes her throat.

“She likes it. You’re doing great,” Ethan praises as I continue my movements.

There’s a knock on the door, and Lizzy turns her head slightly before knocking twice on the table. My brows knit in question as I make eye contact with Ethan. “Two knocks mean ‘come in,’” he says right as a tiny child bounds into the room. Lizzy pulls her arms back, and I set the brush on the table, turning my attention to the ball of energy that must be Ethan’s youngest sister.

“Mom needs you in da kitchen, Finn.”

“Finn?” I mouth at him.

“Tell her I’ll be right there. Thanks, Evie.”

“Is dis your girlfriend?” she asks, carefully sounding out the word, the Rs coming out more like Ws.

His bright green eyes look at me, and I wonder if this is why he mentioned titles last night.

Before he can answer, I stand and go over to her. “I’m his girlfriend. You must be Evie.”

She beams. “Dat’s me.”

Before I can say another word, she tears out of the room, leaving the door open behind her, chanting, “Finn’s got a girlfriend, Finn’s got a girlfriend, Finn’s got a girlfriend!”

He stands and walks to the dresser, pulling out a small timer with what looks like a clock face. “Lizzy, I’m going to set a twenty-minute timer for you. When it goes off, clean up your beads, wash your hands, and come down for dinner, okay?”

She grunts and points to her right at a pair of headphones on her bed. Ethan hands them to her before placing his hand on my back as he escorts me out of the room.

“Evie has trouble with some of her consonant sounds, and when she was a toddler, Ethan came out as ‘Ee-fin.’ I didn’t want to correct her, so the nickname stuck,” he explains as we walk down the stairs.

“That’s adorable. You’re so good with all of them,” I say, sounding positive, but deep down, my gut is churning with anxiety.

He’stoogood with them. He seems like he was born to be a father. How could he not want children of his own one day? What if he’s telling me he doesn’t want them because I don’t? I know he said he doesn’t want kids and he won’t change his mind, but what if it all was a lie?

At the bottom of the stairs, he grabs my hand, turning me toward him. “I can feel your anxiety. I know this is new to you, not having a big family or siblings of your own, and they can be a lot. But I promise you, while I love them so much, I don’t want any of my own.” He pulls me into him and rubs my back.

“Stop reading my mind,” I joke nervously.

“Did you notice I did the same with Lizzy? I’ve had a lot of practice reading thoughts,” he says. “You start blinking more rapidly when you’re having overwhelming thoughts. Your body also stiffens, and you’re more tense under my touch. But I’ve found that touching you calms you down,” he says, whispering the last part in my ear as he tilts my head, planting a soft kiss on my lips.

“Gross. No one wants to see you suck face, Ethan,” a voice calls out from the living room, and I pull back from him, my cheeks pink with embarrassment.

“Leave them alone, Ella,” Ashley calls out from the kitchen.

“Don’t encourage them, Mom,” Ella quips back.

“Yeah, definitely could do without this. No kids, I promise,” he mutters in my ear as he clasps my hand and leads me to the living room to introduce me to another sister.

“Bridget, this is Ella, my extremely opinionated teenage sister,” he says in a way only a brother can.

“Nice to meet you. Ooh, you do have great skin,” she blurts before turning on her big brother. “Look, bro, I’ll cockblock you all I want after you ran Chad off the other night.” She looks back at me and offers a quick “No offense.”

“None taken. Sorry about Chad, but based on the name alone, I’d say he did you a favor.”

Ethan lets out a laugh that rolls through his body, like a ripple spreading across a calm lake.

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