“Go!” She grins. “I’ll um … I’ll be here.”
Fucking hell. How long was I in the shower? One minute I’m fucking my husband, and the next he’s all cosy with Juniper … and now he’s dragging me away so we can “talk?”
I glance back as we leave the room. “We won’t be long!” I call to her. Which sounds completely stupid since she shouldn’t even be here anyway …
She grabs the remote and waggles it at me. “I’m good! Honest!”
“Okay.” I nod, and Ethan leads us away.
When we reach the kitchen—about the farthest point from the living room—Ethan drops my hand and starts pacing.
“Babe?” I haven’t seen him this rattled since the summer. “Ethan, stop.” I put my hand on his chest and he halts in his tracks. “Darling. What’s wrong?”
What did I miss?
He looks at me then. He really looks at me. “Have you seen the snow?”
My eyebrows draw close, and I turn from him to face the window. “Um… well, yes.” I gesture to the expanse of white outside. “It’s kinda hard to miss.”
“Well …” Ethan takes my hand, drawing me close. “If the road is clear … maybe I can get her there, but …”
“Who?” I let him hold me. “What?” I ask, searching his face for the answers. Then— Oh. My stomach drops. Juniper. I mean of course he wants to get rid of her. This is supposed to be our weekend away. Our super romantic, just me and him in the woods, in the snow, all alone, ridiculously delayed honeymoon.
I blink at him, baffled. And I was worried that what? He was gonna ask her to stay?
“Unless …” he starts.
My pulse quickens. “Unless?”
“Okay. Can I ask you something?”
I reach to put my arms around his neck. I kiss him then tell him, “Anything.”
What is it?
“What do you think of Juniper?”
I pull back. “What do I think of her?”
“Yeah.” He kisses me back, just a peck. Then he waits.
“I like her,” I tell him honestly. Actually, I really like her. In fact, last night … I have not had that much fun with another human, who wasn’t my husband, in literal years.
Damn. And I only just realised that now. “And you?” I ask tentatively.
He smiles down at me, but there’s something hesitant in his expression. Some doubt there I can’t quite work out. “I like her too,” he says, and I nod.
Yeah. I thought as much.
We stand there for a moment, holding each other, maybe even swaying a little as if music is playing which only we can hear.
“So, what now?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
Ethan bites his lip. “Would it be weird to ask her to stay?”
“Um … guys?”
We break apart as Juniper comes in, and we both face her at the same time.
