Page 99 of Sliding Into Love
“Want to talk about it?”
Ethan sat up.
“You saw the game.”
“Yes,” Ivy replied, “but there are more—"
“I know.” He cut her off and slid off the bed, kneeling beside the duffel he’d dropped earlier to unlace his running shoes. “It’s just…” Ethan trailed off, looking up at her. A crease formed between his brows, but otherwise, his face was unreadable.
“It’s just… what?” So unlike Ethan, this reluctance to talk to her. A slow, creeping sensation of cold slid up Ivy’s spine.
His brows creased while the tendon in his jaw flexed as if he was practicing the words in his head before saying them aloud. He stared down at his hands.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
And Ivy’s heart plummeted to the floor.
“It’s been so much harder lately,and I don’t know if this is even what I want now.” It was freeing for Ethan to finally say the words out loud. He’d been unsettled for a while, and he’d realized what he had to do on the flight. “I feel like this is a good time for it to end, you know?” Unzipping the duffel bag, Ethan placed his shoes in their mesh pocket. “It’s been a good run, but I think it’s over.” He let out a sharp exhale.
Ivy sniffled above him. Ethan raised his eyes to meet hers, and she was…crying?
“What happened?” Ivy whispered. “What did I do?”
“What do you mean?” He blinked up at her, confused.
“I said,” she snapped as a tear fell onto her freckled cheekbone, “what did Ido? Why is it over?”
What was she—
“Ivy, sweetheart,no.”Ethan eased over to where she still sat on the edge of the bed and rested his chin on her knees before reaching up to brush her tears away with his thumbs. “Ivy,” he said, “I want toretire.”
“You— what?”
“I think now is a good time for me to retire. I only ever wanted to make it to the World Series, and now we’re here. Go out on top, you know?”
“I just-what?”
“Ivy.Ivy.” He sat back on his heels and ran his hand through his hair. “You didn’t think I—"
Thenshecuthimoff.
“You were being so weird!” Ivy’s voice quavered. Angry tears dripped onto her cheeks. “You didn’t even kiss me, and you said,” and she made air quotes around his words, “you ‘don’t want to do this anymore’! What else was I supposed to think?” She crossed her arms over her chest and inhaled shakily.
For a moment, Ethan thought maybe he should wait, he hadplansfor this, dammit, but he wanted to reassure her.
Needed to.
Pulling the bag closer, he removed the gift he had for her and straightened the fabric before placing it on her lap. Nonplussed at the pile of fabric landing on her lap, Ivy arched a brow at him in question. He smiled at her, watching her unfold the tiny black Hawks jersey.
“That’s nice, but—"
“Turn it around.”
He knew what she'd see when she turned it. His number printed in gleaming white, and—
She inhaled sharply.
“Fisher? Ethan, what does this mean?”
