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“Jesus, Indy, that’s easy,” Ethan said.
“Easy for you to say, with all of your”— she waved at his shoulders— “thatgoing on.”
“Oh,” he said, leaning back and bringing their knees together once more, “tell me more.”
Indy pulled her plate back from him and dug into her pancakes instead, hiding her flaming cheeks behind a curtain of hair. Ethan said nothing, but she soon felt the gentle rubbing of his shoe against hers.
How could she explain to him how afraid she was? Where would she even begin? Ethan was approachable, outgoing, attractive. Was it really a stretch to assume he made friends easily? Got dates any time he wanted?
Indy didn’t have that luxury. She was a homebody, an introvert, overly involved with fictional people (especially the ones she made up herself), and completely out of touch with current affairs. When she dated, she jumped in with both feet, never wanting to regret holding back but second-guessing every overly attached message, every exclamation mark, every smiley face.
Which was why finding her soulmate was so important.
“You know, Summer didn’t have anything nice to say about Nick. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was warning me away.”And leading me to you, she didn’t add.
“We’ve been looking out for each other since we were born.” Ethan rubbed his brow, his shoulders hunched. “When she finds out what Nick’s done now, she’s going to tear me a new one.”
“She’ll forgive you.”
“Doesn’t mean I deserve it.” He straightened. “Summer told me what you said about your parents. It sounded lonely.”
It was.
Watching her parents remodel homes had fanned the flames of her creative spark, even though the years spent surrounded by chaos had left her ears ringing and with the occasional jitter.
“They’d find me curled up in the back seat with a pair of noise canceling headphones and a notebook. It was the only way I could relax.”
“Overstimulation,” he said with a slow nod. “I’ve been researching for school.”
He really was a superhero.
And, oh god, he needed to stop talking before Indy launched herself across the table and kissed him.
“Watching them peel back the layers of a house was what sparked the idea for Riley. Dad would pull up the floors and explain how he could tell whether the boards were worth keeping. I loved how happy it made him to discover something great hiding underneath. They have a warehouse across town where they keep offcuts and reclaimed pieces, and any time we visited, I’d pretend I was exploring.” She’d probably spent more time there than in her actual bedroom. “They say they don’t believe in Fate, but I saw how their eyes lit up when they’d find a new house to work on. It’s like magic.”
“Why do you believe in it so much?” he asked. “I know the story with the psychic, and your parents and grandparents.”
“And great-grandparents.”
“Them too,” he smiled. “I want to understand.”
Indy didn’t begrudge his skepticism, but she knew what she believed. “Haven’t you ever wanted to know everything was going to work out all right? That it was okay to mess up, or”— she looked down.— “be a little weird, because eventually the right person would come along and love you for who you are? Someone who would fit you perfectly. And you wouldn’t have to worry that who you were would scare them off because you were meant to be together.”
For over a decade, her breakup with Nick had weighed heavily on her heart. Years spent obsessing over the what-if.
It was the only relationship that had felt like it could be something more. Everything since had been disappointing. No spark. No butterflies.
Indy had let it slide, feeding all her hopes and disappointments into her work, but she couldn’t hide anymore. Lori had already worked it out, and soon her readers would too. She was a fraud. A liar.
A romance writer who’d never been in love. How inconvenient.
“What about you? Without Fate, you wouldn’t be here eating amazing pancakes with me.”
Ethan’s gaze dropped. Indy followed it, then stilled. She’d been tracing patterns on his open palm. Well. That was embarrassing. Without looking up, she pulled her hand back.
“Fate didn’t make this happen. You did.” The soft tone of his voice wrapped around her. “By your measure, you’re my destiny.”
One of Ethan’s dimples twitched. One of these days, they were going to ruin her.
