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“I know we’ve had some problems,” Ethan continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “But we have a baby. You can’t just walk away. We need you.”
Horrified and embarrassed, Sadie stared up at Ethan. She couldn’t believe he was doing this. And how had he found her? Groaning internally, she thought Gina. It was the only way. But why was he doing this?
“What’s going on?” Josh gave Sadie a hard look. “Who is this? Gina didn’t say anything about you having a baby. Or a husband.”
“He doesn’t know about us?” Ethan looked wounded as he stared down at her. “Even if you’re mad at me, you can’t forget about our child. Sadie, we need you. Come back home.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She snapped a furious look at Ethan, then shifted her gaze to Josh. “This isn’t what it looks like.” She choked out a strained laugh. “Really. That’s not my baby—”
And right on cue, Emma crowed in delight and threw herself at Sadie. Defeated, Sadie instinctively caught her and cuddled her close. She was warm and soft and smelled so good, Sadie smiled while the baby patted her cheeks with both tiny hands. Oh, how she’d missed this baby.
“Okay,” Josh said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m out.” He slid off the bench seat, tossed a ten dollar bill on the table and said, “Good luck with whatever this is.”
When he left, Sadie looked up at Ethan and scowled at the wide grin on his face. “Why would you do that, Ethan?”
He shrugged amiably. “I needed to get rid of him and I was afraid you wouldn’t let me.” He dropped onto the seat opposite her.
“Well, you’re right. I wouldn’t have.” Sadie tried to be angry, but it was hard, with Emma cuddling in as if she were right where she belonged. “Gina told you where to find me, I’m guessing?”
“Not without telling me exactly what she thought of me first,” he admitted. “The woman has a creative vocabulary.”
Sadie laughed helplessly. Of course Gina would tell him off and then lead him right to Sadie. Beyond all else, her sister-in-law was a hopeless romantic.
The waitress came up with a fresh cup and poured coffee for Ethan, then refilled Sadie’s. She left with questions in her eyes and Sadie couldn’t blame her. She had plenty of questions herself.
“Why are you here?” she asked, keeping her voice down. “Why did you bring Emma?”
“When you’re going to fight, bring all of your ammunition,” he said, and Sadie was more confused than ever.
“Fight for what? What do you mean?”
“It means I want you to come back.”
His gaze met hers. Sadie held her breath. “Come back to what?”
“To work.”
She let the breath out and felt disappointment wash over her in a wave so heavy it weighed her down. “No.”
“I thought you’d say that,” Ethan said, cupping both hands around the mug of coffee. “So I’m offering you twice your old salary.”
Sadie’s heart sank even further. The minute she’d seen him, her foolish heart had hoped that he was there to confess his love. To ask her to marry him. To live and love with him. But he only wanted her back at the office and that, she couldn’t do.
“No. I don’t want to work for you anymore, Ethan.” She scooted off the bench seat, snatching up her purse as she moved. It was hard to give Emma back to Ethan, but she did it, in spite of the fact that the baby reached up both arms to her and screwed up her tiny face to cry. “If that’s why you came, you wasted a trip.”
“It’s not why.” He stood up, too, tossed another ten on the table and led her out of the diner. “Not completely. Come on. We’re not doing this here.”
“Doing what?” She came to a dead stop on the sidewalk and refused to be budged until she knew what he was up to. Traffic hummed past, the wind howled in off the ocean and she had to squint up at him because of the sun.
He glanced around and frowned at the crowds and the noise before turning back to Sadie. “This isn’t the place I would have picked, but screw it. This needs saying.”
