Page 31 of Clean Sweep
I sighed, having anticipated this exact moment, lowered into my booth and rubbed circles into my temples.
“Landon is trying my patience.”
“He’s engaged?” she screeched. “Congratulations! Do you like her? How did he ask? When is the wedding?”
“She’s not so bad, I actually liked Starla. Yes, I think they’ve rushed the whole getting-engaged-thing, but they don’t have a date set. There’s time for them to figure that whole situation out.”
Dahlia lifted a dark eyebrow. “Buuuut?” she drawled.
I leaned back. “But he’s dropped out of medical school. At least, he said he did. I don’t know the details. Maybe he hasn’t actually pulled out yet? Not really sure.”
Her eyes grew round as globes. “Oh. That seems like a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. His decision, but still a big deal. I can learn to live with that, but now he’s avoiding me. He won’t let me talk to him about it, which has my mama senses tingling. Something is up.”
“Can you corner him?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. But should I? I’m not sure it’s come to that yet. He’s made a series of decisions that I don’t agree with, but I’m going to have to get used to. There’s no wedding date on the horizon and there could be hope for the future that he’s wanted for years. So . . .”
Dahlia nodded. “So you wait.”
“So I wait. At least for now. Forcing Landon in the past has never helped.”
She shook her head and leaned against the counter behind her. “Wow, parenting looks like it sucks.”
“Totally.”
The slam of a car door outside drew my attention, and my stomach caught. My ex-husband Ethan stood in front of the Frolicking Moose, eyes shaded by a pair of sunglasses.
He’d cut his shaggy hair short so it looked neat and manicured, giving him a more professional bearing. The mussy HVAC guy that I’d lived with for the last two decades had all but disappeared underneath a button-up shirt and slacks. Had he lost weight? He cut a leaner figure.
I crossed my arms self consciously over my chest.
“Oh.” Dahlia straightened. “Is that . . .”
“It is.”
Before she could say a word, someone stepped out of the passenger seat. A lovely woman, middle-aged, with streaks of gray in her dark hair. She gave him a smile highlighted by red lipstick. Her gutsy pantsuit reminded me of Celeste. While I wouldn’t call her ritzy, she certainly gave off an upper class vibe.
The two of them linked hands and headed toward the door. My stomach twisted in on itself. After the divorce, Ethan had moved to Jackson City. He gave the house to me, took the RV and truck, and rented an apartment. At some point, Blake told me Ethan had purchased a home, but I didn’t know much more about his life up there. His HVAC business, I’d heard from someone, had boomed. He paid his child support for Blake, so I didn’t care what else he did with his money.
The fact that he’d left Jackson City to come here meant one thing: he needed to speak with me.
But why?
My instincts told me it had everything to do with Landon, and I braced myself for what would be said. Ethan had always put pressure on Landon to get into medical school to avoidbeing the HVAC guy. He wanted Landon to live the life he hadn’t managed to achieve. We’d married so young and hadn’t given ourselves the headstart we needed to be prosperous. I’d gotten pregnant with Landon within a year, and spit out the other three in the six years following.
Somehow, life had just . . . swallowed those dreams.
The chimes on the door jingled when Ethan pulled it open, allowing the woman to step inside ahead of him. I didn’t have the presence of mind to act like I’d been doing something else, I just stared at them like a deer in the headlights. Ethan glanced up, saw me, and managed a warm-enough smile.
“Hey Les. Sorry for dropping in unexpectedly. Do you have a minute to talk?”
THANKSto limited space in my office, the three of us sat at my usual booth near the back. I put my back to the wall so I could face the rest of the shop and anticipate who came in.
Ethan introduced the woman with a hand on the small of her back.
“Leslie, this is Kate. She and I have been dating for a few months now. We’re just heading out of town for a weekend trip and stopped in while driving through.”
