Page 264 of Mountain Grump
He got this letter before…
The cold spreads to my stomach.
Ethan got this letter before we slept together.
My broken inhale feels like ice as the cold reaches my lungs.
This whole time.
This entire time.
Ethan’s had a motive.
He wasn’t just being an amazing guy. He didn’t just marry a woman he barely knew to spite my family.
Ethan did it for money.
It’s all been for money.
My fingers go numb as the cold travels down my arms.
Like my family.
Like everyone I know.
Like every other person I should’ve been able to count on, but who let me down over and over again.
Ethan needed me for money.
Despair, like I didn’t know was possible, drapes over me, making it hard to breathe.
I was going to tell him I loved him.
I was going to tell him and…
Three months.
The despair gets even heavier.
Three fucking months.
This letter says Ethan will get paid three months after that day.
It’s been two and a half.
We’re two weeks short of the deadline.
In two weeks, Ethan will get his money.
In two weeks, Ethan will be free to act however he wants.
And if I told him that I loved him tomorrow…
A sob crawls up my frozen throat.
If I told him tomorrow, would he have said it back even if he didn’t mean it?
Would he have smiled but not denied it?
