Page 80 of Out of Bounds
“Yeah. I’m just not looking forward to the long trip.”
“I can imagine.” His flight is in a few hours.
“You okay?” He studies my face.
“Yes. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” I asked before and he said he’d be fine. I took that to mean he wanted to spend time with Amelia’s father and maybe by himself too.
“No, I’m okay. Besides, your parents would be mad at me if you missed your cousin’s pre-wedding party.”
“I wouldn’t mind, who has a pre-wedding party anyway. That’s what the engagement party is for, but she’s just being extravagant.” I shake my head.
“Yeah. Anyhow, baby I should go.” he reaches for a duffel bag and lifts it over his shoulder. “Call me if you need me.”
He walks up to me and kisses me and I feel like I might die when I think in a few weeks he won’t be kissing me anymore.
When he gets to the door courage comes and overwhelms me when I think of what I want.
“I don’t think we should break up!” I blurt just as he’s about to walk through.
He stops in his tracks and turns back to face me with an expression I can’t read.
“I don’t think we should break up, Ethan,” I say again. this time with more determination.
“Bree,” he breaths and sets his bag down.
He walks back over to me and stops a breath away.
“What? Say something other than my name.”
He stares at me for a moment and as the seconds tick by I feel him slipping away.
“I think we stick to the plan,” he states and my heart squeezes.
“Stick to the plan?” I can barely get the words out. “Why? Why would you say that?”
“Because we both got what we wanted and I fear that anything else might just lead us to hurting each other.”
My heartbeat speeds up. “How do you know that?”
“Bree, this is not a discussion we should have now. It might not be one we should have at all.”
“You think it’s fair for you to keep deciding what’s best for the both of us? I loved you when we were kids and I never stopped.”
“I can’t do this, Bree.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t. I can’t, and maybe give your track record, someone should decide what’s best for you. I can’t be with you, Bree. That’s final.”
I shut right up when he walks out and I feel as empty as I did twenty years ago when I first met him on the beach.
He walked away from me then too. I never knew it was an omen of things to come, or that I’d lose my heart to him and myself.
Chapter27
Ethan
Iplaster a smile on my face when I see Jim Gardener standing by the entrance to the burger diner we chose to meet at.
