Page 525 of Chaos has a Name
“Hey! Were you guys wandering around?” she asked, carrying her bag over her shoulder as security was loading up the kids and getting ready to transport.
It had been a brutal night for Ethan.
He and Gene had it out in the treehouse, and he hadn’t slept the whole night. There was fear, panic, and anxiety, and Gene had spent it trying to talk some sense into him.
Finally, he did.
“Can we talk?” Ethan asked, touching her arm and then holding her hand in his.
Uh-oh.
She knew something was up. All day yesterday, he’d been quiet, and that was never good with him. He’d been weepy, and watching her.
Most of the time, she believed he was just thinking about how close they came.
But still…
A thinking Ethan was an overthinking one. She fully expected him to be worked up over something, but she wasn’t sure what.
“Sure. What’s going on, EJ? We missed you two in bed last night,” she admitted, assuming it was honeymoon nookie, and not blaming them.
God knew she climbed Mount Callen and Mount Christopher a couple of times to make up for not having time during the case.
And no one complained.
In fact, she got multiple standing ovations—which led to encores.
Watching his wife, Ethan was so scared.
He knew that this…this might be the end. He knew what he was going to say to her, and he knew that it was…goodbye.
After a long night of toiling over this, his mind had been made up.
And this hurt.
It hurt so deeply, that he was sure when she left, he’d never get over this.
Pulling her toward the totem outside the cabin, he stood there and held her hand.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life. Only, this is the pivotal one for me.”
She didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t like the sound of that.
Behind him, Gene was standing there, a blank expression on his face, and that wasn’t good either.
Gene was her ride or die.
Right?
“EJ? What’s going on?” she asked. “You’re off. It’s scaring me.”
Yeah, well, this scared him too. Only, he knew if he didn’t do this, he’d regret it for the rest of his life. It was time for this raven to fly the nest.
So to speak.
“I’m not going back with you, Elizabeth. I’m not returning to DC.”
He dropped that bomb, and it did some damage. His wife actually gasped, as a million things went through her mind.
