AllFreeNovel
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“Nope.”
“Guess I’ll have to rub two stones together. Or whatever they did in the olden days.”
Ethan loves her optimism. He loves everything about her. “Or you could go sit by the fire I built. Or let it air dry. Stay here where it’s warm.”
“You know how it is. I get the call. I have to go.”
“I do know.” He sucks in his bottom lip. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to complain about it.”
“There’s nothing worse than a complainer.” She scans the room, looking for the items that she had laid out on the bed. Items that were supposed to have made it into the dresser, but never did. Items that are now dispersed on the floor. “Especially at Christmas.”
“It’s not Christmas yet. I still have a few days.”
Her brows raise. “Maybe I’ll stay in the city until then.”
“You could never stay away that long.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re probably right.”
“I thought you were going to stay here and work on your talk.”
“I was. I am.”
“And what about that riveting novel?”
“My other work comes first. I could be saving a family, Ethan. What’s that worth to you?” She shakes her head. “Surely, a few hours of me being away.”
“I miss you when you go.”
Ali glances out the window and sighs. Nothing ever changes, not really. “You’ll live.”
She crosses the room in search of her favorite sweater. “And don’t be such a baby. It’s not like you.”
“I’m not. I just thought I might get you all to myself for the holidays.”
“Says the man who spent half the morning working. And, unfortunately, like criminals, relationship issues don’t take holidays.”
“So, this is what? An intervention?”
“Something like that.”
Ethan shakes his head and searches for clothes. He throws on the first thing he can find. “I guess that happily ever after thing was all a lie.”
Ali studies him carefully. “It seems you’ve forgotten how good I am at my job.”
“I could never.”
She watches him for a long moment as she chews at her lip, mulling over how much he ought to know. “It’s Bethany.”
“Bethany?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You’re seeing my ex-wife?” Ethan thinks of the last time his ex saw another woman behind his back and considers how that turned out.
“Call it a favor.” Ali slips the sweater over her head. “An early Christmas gift.”
His face grows hot. “I couldn’t give two shits about Bethany or her relationship issues. She made her bed—”
