Page 238 of The Defiant Curse

Instead, they were in her world, making her solve their murders.

“But I wasn’t friendly.”

He shared.

“You’re not responsible for being friendly in an interaction that you didn’t ask for,” he stated. “She came here, unrequested, and your response was appropriate. You don’t have to give people space in your life when you never wanted them in it.”

She was curious.

“Would you have wanted to talk to her more if it was your mother?” she asked. “If it was your Catherine?”

Ethan considered it.

“No. I don’t think I would have. I’ve spoken to her at her grave and in my head. If she’s around, she knows how much I love her. She wouldn’t need me to keep dwelling on it. I think you gave an appropriate response considering she’s been gone for almost forty years, Elizabeth.”

She relaxed.

He had a point.

“Honestly, EJ, I’m tired of dwelling on it. I’m tired of having that wound reopened.”

Then, she went there.

“I lied.”

He waited.

“When I told Devon Slater that digging them up didn’t hurt me, that wasn’t the truth. Seeing my father’s skull…it devastated me. Her, not as much, but Charlie. God. I miss him so goddamn much. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about him and wish I’d saved him. He’d be Wyler’s age, and he’d be here busting balls like a champ. I miss my father.”

Oh, he could tell.

While she’d not lost her shit when Devon dug up her parents, he knew it still hit a sore spot. Elizabeth was damn good at masking her feelings—even if it cost her a lot.

There was no way on earth that seeing her father’s grave disturbed didn’t kick the shit out of her heart. She just wasn’t going to let Devon win on that one.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish the same thing for you, and for myself, Elizabeth. One of the hardest things in life is saying goodbye to your parents, especially when they were your whole world. I just wish I could have met Charlie, and that you could have met my mother.”

Her too.

Now, though, she didn’t want to hurt anymore. It had been a rough year, and her heart had been kicked all over the place.

“How much do I owe you, Doctor Blackhawk?” she asked knowing he was psycho-analyzing the hell out of her, and playing the role of shrinky dink.

Oh, and she appreciated that.

“Maybe a kiss, a roll in the hay later in the barn, and a rousing game of slap and tickle,” he said, as he proceeded to tickle her.

After she laughed and tried to get away, she snorted.

“Goofball.”

Yes, he was when it came to her.

“Thanks for calming me down, buying me some space, and giving me peace to come to grips with it. I really wish the dead would stay dead.”

Yeah, him too.

But then again, they wouldn’t have their adventure if that was the case.