Page 24 of Sliding Into Love
That’s sweet of you!
It has been hard, and it’s harder for me because I feel like I know what he’s going through more than most but I just…can’t get through to him.
Ahhh sorry you don’t even know me and I’m laying this heavy shit on you.
The burning anger from last night roiled through his gut again. He didn’t know her full story, or Jase’s, but he knew no one deserved anything like whatever they’d been through.
No, it’s okay. I understand about weird childhood shit.
That sounded weird.
I don’t have a great relationship with my family, is all.
Yeah I understand! I never had good relationships with the people who fostered me until I was older.
You do have that. Derek told me how you guys basically made your own family.
We’ll take you in! we take all the misfits and lost ones around here.
Well thanks. Maybe I’ll take you up on that. :)
Wow did you just old-school emoji me, Grandpa?
Watch it, you whippersnapper.
You can’t be much younger than me, though.
I’m 26, but at least I’m hip with the emojis the youths are using these days ;)
Ethan had no idea how to respond, so he plugged his phone in and went into the bathroom to shower. By the time he returned from the tiny steam-filled room, Derek had returned and was lounging on the bed, flipping through channels.
“This is usually the part where the misogynistic, patriarchal, but supposedly good-intentioned brother says, ‘She’s too good for you’.”
“I know,” Ethan agreed, shoving his wet hair back from his face.
“But I’m not going to. I can tell you like her, and I think you might be good for each other.”
Ethan’s head whipped around, wet hair stinging his cheekbones and flinging droplets.
“She’s sweet and I love her, but she gets too caught up in her head sometimes, you know? It’s hard for her to let people help her. I’m telling you this,” Derek continued, “because I think you have that in common. And I think you would be good together.”
Derek was much more perceptive than Ethan gave him credit for.
But was he right?
Small hands jostled Ivy awake, and she looked up to find Jase staring down at her, his face serious and distraught.
“Ivy, the game is going to start soon. Is it cool if I use your phone to text Ethan? I want to tell him good luck.” Anxiety rolled off his narrow frame in waves.
“Sure, Jase. Isn’t it kind of early for a game, though?”
“The Raiders are in another time zone. It starts at twelve their time.”
Huh. After the games they’d attended and the practice with Ethan, Jase had become obsessed with the Hawks, so she shouldn’t have been surprised. Ivy handed Jase the phone and rolled back over. Sleep had been elusive the night before, and Ivy was loath to get up and face her day.
“I sent him a message, but your phone is almost dead. I think you need a new charger.” Jase held out her phone. The plug-in bit of the charger was barely attached, and the tape she’d wrapped around it in a last-ditch effort to save the damn thing was already coming unraveled.
In the haze of being half-asleep, she reached for her phone automatically, swiping open her job-hunting appbeforeher email. That was progress, right? Still nothing from the school district, but she told herself it was okay. The assistant principal was obviously a very busy person. Switching back to the job app, Ivy scrolled postings for a few minutes, pausing to peruse the same ones she’d already read a hundred times.
