Page 72 of Sliding Into Love
Isaac bounded over to Laura and hugged her while Ethan remained wary. Last night aside, he was still uncertain how to be around his mother after so long.
“Can we talk?” she asked softly.
Ethan nodded.
“Emily, may we borrow your office?”
“Of course,” Harkness said. “Reyes, with me.”
Reluctantly, Ethan followed his mother to Harkness's office, where Laura seated herself behind the large desk. Resting her elbows on its surface and steepling her fingers before her the same way Harkness had the day before, Laura watched Ethan in silence for what seemed like a decade. Being under her intense scrutiny sent him back to his teenage years when all he did was disappoint her.
“How are you?” she finally asked.
“Fine,” he bit out.
“And the x-rays?”
“Fine,” Ethan repeated.
Laura pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Ethan,” she began. “I would like to get to know you again, but I can’t do that if you’re going to act like a surly teenager.”
Ethan sighed too.
“Fine,” he said again, and she glared daggers. “Sorry.” He ducked his head. “How—how is Dad?”
Seeing his parents in the hospital had been unexpected. But seeing how old and frail Jimmy looked in the wheelchair had been unsettling.
“The doctors say he’ll be fine after a round of antibiotics and some physical therapy. It’s not as bad as they initially thought. But he’s not as young as he thinks he is.” Then Laura rolledhereyes.
“Hmm.” He was relieved but unsure what else to say.
“Ivy seems nice.” Laura changed the subject.
“She is.”
“How did the two of you meet?” She still peered at him over her steepled fingers.
“She’s Derek Johnson’s foster sister, and he gave her tickets a few weeks ago. I signed some balls for the kids.”
“And what is she to you? Have you been together long?”
Ethan barked a laugh.
“No, we haven’t been together long.”
But it seemed like forever. There was no way he was letting that tidbit of information slip to his mother, though.
“Hmm.” Laura looked at him for a long moment. “Jimmy is smitten with the little girl.”
“Janna? Yeah, she’s a cute kid.”
“What’s the boy’s name?” she asked.
“Jase.”
“He looks like you did,” she said quietly.
