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Oh.
She caught his longing glance at her half-finished plate and pushed it over to him, biting back a smile as he smothered the pancakes in syrup.
Her fingers flew over the keypad slower than she’d like, but it was enough. Now, suddenly, she could see what was missing. That moment, like a key slotting into a lock, the last piece of the mystery, where Riley would know. Not the lifesaving, heart-melting, over-the-top moment she’d been thinking of, but something soft, small, gentle. A simple thought.
I could do this alone, but I don’t want to. Ever again. Where he is, I’ll be. Where I go, I want him by my side. To face the untold future together.
“I think you just saved my book.”
“Do you want to go home and write?” He thumbed over his shoulder. “I can take care of this.”
Jeez. She couldn’t have written a man better. “No, I have enough for now. I’d rather be here.”
His smile hit her with its full force.
Then she inhaled a breath and let it out slowly. “I have something to tell you.”
Beneath the table, he moved his foot away.
“So,” Indy started, her neck bristling with nerves, “I may have done something without asking you, and I really don’t want you to be angry with me.”
The idea had sparked weeks ago, when they had just missed Nick at lunch. Ethan’s mention of textbooks had taken up residence in a corner of her mind. Maybe it was an apology for lying to him. Or perhaps it was simply because he was so obviously passionate about his job, and Indy wanted to help.
She only hoped she hadn’t overstepped.
Ethan’s expression was unreadable. “You saw Nick.”
“What? No.” She shook her head. “I’ve done several events at the state library, and the director, Edith, hooked me up. Apparently, some corporation in town is doing a bunch of community pro bono stuff, and this Forrester guy has promised a huge donation to all the local libraries. When she talked to him, she mentioned Highbridge needing new textbooks, and he asked for your number. Said he was going to call you to talk about what you need.”
Ethan blinked.
Shit. She had overstepped, hadn’t she?
“How are you real?” he asked. “Do you know how long I’ve been applying for grants? How often we campaign for donations and how many rejections we get? And you manage a meeting with one of the richest guys in the city with one phone call.”
His expression was intense. His eyes went dark and his jaw ticked, but Indy couldn’t look away. No, she wanted to be closer. The passions of others had always magnetized her, and seeing Ethan’s— having it directed toward her— was intoxicating.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, Indy,” he said. “Thank you.” His hand was back, his thumb rubbing over her tattoo again. Wisdom, courage, strength. All the traits she wished she had.
“What makes you so sure Nick is the one?”
Automatically, she opened her mouth to break down the same story she’d told Sasha, her parents, and her therapist. The same one she’d repeated to herself a hundred and one times. There was precedence here. Fate was in her blood.
But instead, she said, “I’m not.” Indy curled her free hand around the thick porcelain mug. She didn’t dare pull the other from Ethan’s. “But what else have I got? The psychic was right about the championship and writing and breaking up with Nick before the end of the year. She even predicted that I’d see him again.”
“Don’t you ever wonder if she was telling you what you wanted to hear?”
She had. She did. It woke her up most mornings.
“And there’s no chance she got it wrong?”
“She was very specific,” Indy said. “Although…”
There had been a moment when Indy had wondered. Years, even. After they’d broken up, she’d thrown the bracelet into a box and called the psychic a charlatan. Had rationalized that the precise laws of the universe were unknowable and she’d been purposefully thrown off track.
“I…” She stopped.No more lies.And besides, what was one more risk taken? Indy took a bracing breath. “The point isn’t what I want. It’s about finding someone who wants me, not because of how I look or to fill their bed, but me. With my need to write or zone out, my blanket days, and my late nights playing games because it’s the only way to clear my head.”
