“Okay, whatever,” I say. Aunt Donna had said she didn’t mind sleeping outside. Hell, maybe I’ll sleep outside with her. I don’t want to see Ethan. I don’t want to know the truth.
“Thanks for the ice cream,” Aunt Donna says when I get off the phone with my mom. Half of my ice cream has melted down my fingers but she’s finished with hers. “That was really sweet of you,” she says.
I offer her the best smile I can manage right now and then I take a bite of my ice cream. I don’t really want to sleep outside. I want a clean bed in a room with air conditioning and an indoor bathroom that has hot running water. I want to lay down and sleep for days to make up for the last two nights of misery.
What happens if I show up at the hotel and Ethan tells me it’s over? What if he says he’s getting back with Kennedy because I’m going off to college and our relationship was doomed anyway?
My heart wouldn’t be able to take it.
But then I realize something. The Poes love me. And they hate Kennedy. If Ethan is planning on leaving me for her, then his parents will be pissed. They’ll totally side with me instead of their own son. I would bet my life on it.
I think back to Kennedy’s awful snapchat photos and realize that they already have their own hotel room. Maybe they won’t be at the Poe’s hotel at all. Maybe I can get that hot shower and clean bed after all.
It’ll be a perfect place to cry my eyes out of Ethan really is leaving me.
I guess I’ll never know unless I suck it up like a big girl and go find out. I look at my aunt. “You ready to go?”
We get back on the road and we’re at the hotel in no time. My hands are shaking as I park. I can see Ethan’s truck across the lot, and I know he’s here. How am I supposed to survive this?
A rough hand grabs my arm. I turn to see Aunt Donna standing next to me, her lips pressed into a soft smile. “Roscoe and I will be fine on our own,” she says.
I shake my head. “No. You’re coming with me. The Poes will be fine with it. I promise.”
She looks a little hesitant, but finally she smiles back.
“Ella!”
I freeze. Ethan jogs toward me, a brilliant smile lighting up his handsome face. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
He crushes into me, wrapping his arms around me as his cinnamon scent fills my lungs. Ethan holds me hard and rocks back and forth. “I missed you so much.”
All that anger in my heart dissipates instantaneously. This is the Ethan I know. My Ethan. Of course he missed me. I must have imagined the whole thing. Maybe I only hallucinated Kennedy’s Snapchat after all. I mean, if he was leaving me for her, why would he be hugging me right now?
He pulls back and then kisses me on the forehead. I smile up at him, feeling my heart go warm again.
“Ethan…” I say, glancing back at Aunt Donna. “I um, well, I have someone with me. This is my aunt Donna. She was stranded. Is it okay if she stays with us?”
“Of course,” Ethan says, smiling at her. He knows about her history of living in the halfway house but he doesn’t shy away from reaching forward and shaking her hand. “There’s plenty of room. We don’t have an extra bedroom but there’s a couch bed.”
“Thank you so much,” Aunt Donna says. Then she looks at me, and I can tell what she’s thinking.
“Oh um…” I say, biting my lip. “There’s also a dog.”
As if on cue, Roscoe stops smelling a nearby bush and walks up to us, his tail wagging.
Ethan laughs. “No problem. There’s a back door around the corner … we’ll sneak him in.”
Aunt Donna beams. Ethan winks at her and then takes my hand. We walk around the side of the hotel and he uses his key card to open the door. We enter into a narrow hallway and then get into an elevator and no one is around to see our furry contraband. Despite being huge, Roscoe is well behaved, and he walks right next to Aunt Donna without a leash.
My heart is pounding but my hand feels so great in Ethan’s. I can’t believe I was so freaked out earlier. Everything is fine.
“Here we are,” Ethan says, stopping in front of a door. “Um, Ella, there’s something we should talk about.”
“Can I get a shower first?” I ask. “I’m dying for a shower.”
“Uh…” he scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, of course.”
The door swings open without any of us touching it, Dakota stands on the other side. “I heard ya’ll talking,” she says. “Glad you made it. Ooh! Doggie!” Dakota ducks down and beckons to Roscoe who happily jumps into her arms. Aunt Donna follows him into the hotel room and I take one step forward, but Ethan grabs my arm.
“Hey, I actually need to talk to you now,” he says.
But it’s too late. The sudden look of horror in his eyes tells me that whatever he wanted to say is now too little too late.
I follow his gaze and see her standing there. She’s beautiful as always, wearing her signature bitchy smirk.
Kennedy Price.
In my boyfriend’s hotel room.
