Page 128 of Shadowing You

Whatever. Ethan didn’t need to argue with his father. He needed to fix things with Mei Lin. Letting her stew was not going to do either of them any good. He stood, but Gavin was on his feet and in the aisle, moving much faster than a man his age should be able to.

“Sit down.”

“This is none of your business.”

“Nevertheless, move over and sit down.”

Ethan considered telling him to go back to his own row. He considered telling him a lot of things, but maybe starting a second argument in five minutes wasn’t the best plan.

He shifted over, and Gavin dropped into the aisle seat.

“She wants to be alone,” Gavin said. “The least you can do is give her some space.”

“The least I can do?” Ethan kept his voice low. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Gavin looked at him for a long beat. “When you’re finished justifying your behavior, try to see it from her perspective.”

“Her point of view is⁠—”

“How would you feel?” Gavin continued as if Ethan hadn’t said a word. “What if you found out she’d been dating another man and lied to you about it?”

“I didn’t lie.”

“Play games all you want, but I heard everything. She asked you, and you evaded the question. What if she’d treated you like that? What if she’d been dating another man?”

Ethan knew how he’d feel. Even the thought of it had his hands curling into fists. He’d want to find the man and throat punch him. Not that it would be fair. So maybe Ethan wouldn’t be all that rational about it.

But Mei Lin didn’t seem angry at Holly. If anything, she was offended on Holly’s behalf.

“I thought she was dead. I grieved her for six years. I was trying to move on like everybody told me I should.”

“I know that, son.” Gavin buckled his seatbelt. “None of that changes how your wife feels. She’s hurt, and you telling her she shouldn’t feel the way she feels, attacking her as if she’s done something wrong⁠—”

“I should take your advice because you’re such an expert on women?” Ethan glared at him. “I would never betray my wife.”

Gavin absorbed the hit with a slow nod. “I have a lot of experience messing up good things in my life. I did things that were wrong. Like, wrong-wrong, as you well know. And yet, when my wife and I travel, she sits right beside me.” His voice softened a fraction. “Look, I get it because I’ve been there. You wanted to control the information. You wanted to tell Mei Lin about Holly at a time when you thought she’d accept it and understand. You still want to tell Holly in a way that she’ll accept and understand.”

“Of course. I wanted to keep them from getting hurt.”

“You wanted to make sure everyone understood you hadn’t done anything wrong—that your behavior was good, and that you were right.”

“I was right.” The words came out too loud and with far too much defensiveness. He clamped his lips shut.

“I think you really believed you were protecting them, but you were protecting yourself from their judgment and their predictable—and understandable—emotional reactions.”

That wasn’t true.

Ethan thought back to that moment in the hotel room when Mei Lin had vocalized her fear about his being with another woman. He hadn’t told her the truth then because…because the timing hadn’t been right. Michael had called right after that. They’d needed to get ready to leave.

And he hadn’t wanted to ruin the moment. It’d been such a good moment.

“Now you have to fix it,” Gavin said. “You need to own your mistake, admit what you should have done differently, and apologize.”

The plane shifted into a long, lazy bank, and his stomach swooped with it.

His father stretched his legs, effectively blocking Ethan’s exit.

Fine then. He turned to the window and stared at the glow on the horizon. Was that the sunrise, the sunset? He didn’t even know.