Page 111 of Love Unavoidable
Chapter 31
Sadie
Ethan and I spend every day together that he’s not working. I’ve tried to schedule the dance sessions I teach around his work shifts. I haven’t told him that yet. I don’t want to freak him out. I just . . . I love spending time with him, even doing silly stuff. Like today, we spent the day walking around downtown San Soloman and ended up at the beach for the sunset. I’ve never had so much fun just doing nothing. As we watched the sun go down, sitting on the sand with my back to his chest, he rested his chin on my shoulder and said, “I’m falling for you, Sadie. Big time. I’ve never felt this way before. I don’t quite know how to handle it or what to do. I mean, it’s shocked the hell out of me. I know you are just out of a relationship and I don’t want to scare you. But just, I don’t know, maybe be patient with me as I fumble through this. And know I’m willing to wait for you to be ready. I’m serious about this.”
I tilted my head back to look at him. “Me too. I don’t know how this happened, especially so soon after . . . you know. But it has. It’s crazy.”
“I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I don’t want you to move out. I mean, if you thought you would, I don’t want you to. Even if you keep your own room. I want you to stay. With me.”
“I want that too.” I smiled. He smiled. And I swear he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then he put his arms back around me and we watched as the sun dipped below the horizon.
And then we grabbed takeout Thai food on the way home.
Home. As in, Ethan’s house. That I now live in. Because we live together. And we like each other. We are in a relationship. My life has done a complete one hundred eighty degree turn in the last couple of months and I couldn’t be happier.
Ethan pulls his truck into the driveway and comes around to help me out. He takes the bags in one hand and my hand in the other, whistling as we walk toward the front door.
I’m sure I see him first, since Ethan is still whistling.
Aaron.
Sitting on Ethan’s front stoop.
What the fuck?
Ethan sees him next, because he stops whistling and drops my hand, but only to put his arm around my shoulders.
“Hey, Aaron. What’s up? What are you doing here?” Ethan asks.
“I came to see Sadie,” Aaron says. His eyes are sad.
“Why?” I ask.
“Sadie, can we talk somewhere private?” Aaron asks.
“No,” Ethan and I both say at the same time.
“Whatever you want to say you can say here,” I continue.
Aaron nods and looks down to his feet. He takes a deep breath, looks back up and Ethan and me, and says, “It’s about your mama.”
My knees go weak.
“Mymama?”
“You need to come home, Sadie. It’s bad.”
“I don’t understand. What about my mama? I just talked to her a few days ago. What happened? Why didn’t you call me?”
I need to sit down.
“Sadie, I’ve been trying to call you all week. You keep declining my calls,” Aaron says, his voice shrill.
“Let’s take this in the house,” Ethan says. He leads me in, still half supporting me with his arm around my waist.
I can’t think.
“She’s in the hospital.” I hear Aaron say it, but it sounds fuzzy and a little further away.
