18
Ethan sat in the office, staring at the wall. His entire world felt like it had crumbled. He barely knew her, yet he felt like he knew her so well. And in one instant, another man had taken it away.
He sighed.
Miles clapped him on the shoulder. He was the only person left for the evening and should have been working in the kitchen, but Ethan wasn’t about to send him away. He needed someone to sit with him, even if it was in silence.
“Is there anything I can do? Make you dinner, maybe?” Miles asked.
Ethan shook his head. “No, but thank you.”
“What exactly happened?”
Ethan leaned back in his seat and looked over at Miles, who sat beside him. “Her ex showed up, and she left to talk with him.”
“So you think she’s getting back together with him?”
“I don’t know, man. He flew across the country to talk to her. What man would do that if it wasn’t because he was in love with her?”
Miles scrubbed his chin with his hand, a pensive look crossing his face. “I suppose so.”
A commotion outside the office door at the front desk had both of them turning their heads. It was 7 p.m. and most guests were normally checked in at that point. A woman’s voice got louder, but was muffled by the door.
Ethan stood. “Well, I guess I can deal with that. At least it’ll take my mind off her for a bit.”
Miles stood and followed Ethan out of the room over to the front desk, where a woman was shooting daggers at Annie, the front desk employee, with a man standing sheepishly beside her.
“Excuse me. What seems to be the problem here?” Ethan asked.
Her eyes narrowed in on Ethan before surprise and then relief crossed her face. “Hot-guy Ethan. Thank the Lord.”
Miles snorted in amusement.
Ethan furrowed his brows. “Um… come again?”
“I’m Stacy, Lily’s best friend, and I’m here to slap some sense into her,” she said. “All I need to know is which room is Lily’s, so I can go up there and give her a piece of my mind. But this lady”—she threw a thumb over her shoulder at Annie as she continued—“won’t tell me.”
“She’s not allowed to. It’s against policy,” Miles said.
Stacy’s glare landed on him, and he backed up with his hands raised.
“Okay. I’m going back to the kitchen.” He clapped a hand on Ethan’s shoulder before retreating toward the restaurant. “Good luck, bro.”
Ethan looked at Stacy, who still had a frown planted on her face, and then to the man behind her. “Look, it is against policy.”
Stacy threw her hands up. “I’m trying to help you, Ethan. Let me help.”
“As much as I appreciate that, Lily needs to decide without interference. I don’t want to be a second choice. If she wants to be with him, then that’s what she should do.”
“But he’s terrible for her.”
Ethan shrugged. “But it’s her decision.”
Stacy tossed a glare over her shoulder at the man she was with. He raised his hands much like Miles had. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t know he was going to fly across the country.”
“You shouldn’t have told him she was here,” Stacy bit out.
“In hindsight, I would have never opened my mouth,” he said.
