Page 14 of Captivating Mr. Second Chance

“Sounds like my tutoring did you a lot of good,” he said, and a laugh burst out of her because when she had been hanging on to her C minus by her fingernails in precalculus in high school, he had tutored her to bring it up to a B.

A slow smile unfurled across his face as he slowly shook his head, and she was desperate to know what he was thinking. “What?”

He clucked his tongue, making her wait for his answer. Wait so long that she began to sweat.

“Your laugh. That’s still the same too,” he said eventually, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Loud and obnoxious?” She’d long gotten used to the side-eyes in public. “I know.”

“No.” He straightened and lifted his foot as if he wanted to step closer but only readjusted his stance. “Not at all.”

She ignored her own automatic response to move toward him and instead asked, “How’s everyone? How’s your family?”

Ethan quirked his lips to the side before running a hand through his hair, and she recognized the habit. The lip twitch almost always preceded the hair tug. He was nervous about something. “My brother moved back home a few years ago because he and his wife had a baby.”

She smiled. “Oh, congratulations.”

But he didn’t accept her felicitations. “They moved back because her parents unfortunately both passed away, and they needed help with the baby when my brother started having weird symptoms.” He sniffed once and dropped his eyes to the floor. “He started talking funny, like he was drunk or couldn’t find his words, and he’s never been clumsy, ever in his whole life, but he began to drop things and…” He sniffed again, and Laney didn’t think when she wrapped her hand around his elbow, offering support with a light squeeze. Then he raised his gaze to hers. “He’s been forgetful, and in the last two years or so, he’s started having these seizure-like movements. He can’t control them. The doctors have had trouble diagnosing it. Turns out it’s Huntington’s.”

“Oh god, Ethan. I’m so sorry. How is he?”

Ethan toggled his head back and forth. “Justin’s good, for now. I think he’s relieved he has an answer. Not the one he wanted, but now he can focus on the right therapies.”

Laney stepped closer to him, smoothing her hand up his arm to his shoulder. “How areyou?”

“I’m…” He let out an audible exhale. “I’m fine.”

She gave him a sad smile. “I know you’re lying because I’ve been saying the same thing lately.”

He pursed his lips, sweeping his eyes over her face. “I hate that you’re not fine.”

“Same,” she said with a fragile laugh. “I’m so sorry, Ethan. I know you’re really close to your brother.”

He nodded, and the shine of tears in his eyes stung like a scab breaking open, the decade-old heartbreak seeping through. Unable to keep her affection for him at bay, she wound her arms around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder, and after a short moment, he locked his arms around her too, settling his hands together at her lower back.

“Your shampoo is different,” he said against her head.

“How do you even know that?” When he shrugged, she pretended not to understand the significance of his silence. “Guess that means I have changed.”

“Not really.” His fingers pressed into her a little tighter than before. “But for the record, I like this version of you just as much.” His nose ruffled her hair. “I remember it used to smell orange, like a creamsicle. Now it smells flowery.”

She shouldn’t have cared that he remembered that insignificant detail, but the mixture of his honesty and his breath against her ear had her own eyes prickling, and she clung to him, burying her nose into his neck to hide the emotion. She didn’t know if the tears were for him, her, or all of it.

“Hey! Marrero, what’re you doing up there?”

A surprised huff rumbled in Ethan’s chest, and he rubbed a few soft circles on Laney’s back before letting go. His lips tipped up in a half smile. “I better go.”

She cleared her throat, mindlessly twirling her hair up in a bun then let it drop. “Yeah, sure. Sorry I held you up.”

“Never.” He shook his head, slow to turn around. “See you later, Lane.”

She sagged against the wall and listened to a short exchange between her brother and Ethan and then a few giggles from the girls.

“Laney! We’re leaving! See you later!” Dean called up, and Laney nodded to herself. She had somewhere to be too, and by the time she got to the restaurant, Bronte was already there.

They greeted each other with a hug.

“Look at you with your cute little bob,” Laney said, gesturing to her friend’s recent haircut.

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