When Death Couldn't End Our Love

office downtown. His family still owned the

the unimpresse

his desk, his eyes na

you to st

eed to

row bed, young and reckless. There were others. And then I played a few seconds of the d

d love these. So would the press, I imagine. 'Inve

hen flushed with ange

r last two months of bachelorhood with me. Reconnect. F

is blac

whatever y

etched. I could see the calculations in his eyes.

hair. A slow, cold smir

You want to play

d. Just

s wasn' t the Ethan I remembered

e knows. Not Olivia, not your

ed. "

f his office,

mo

two months. I didn' t tell him about

y. It was about feelin

a lie. Even i

e, hear his voice, pretend, for a

a past wort

at night. No words

we' d shared our first real kiss. Th

ed to make small talk, but i

he kis

demanding, full of resentment

as fiercely. For a mom

ough my chest. I gasped, pu

darkening. "What now,

st..." I coul

tood. Of cou

member?" he said, his v

walked to the edge of t

e pain in my ches

got in, star

d, his tone flat. He dropped me at

It was a fami

my mother called

ving a little get-together on Sunday.

ar. She' d remarried, moved to Dallas, and mostly prete

ined smiles and polite questions about why I wasn' t

t know,

s father is Carol' s cousin, twice removed, or s

. My mother neve

was as awkward

e. He was attentive to her, charming t

Before I could react, Ethan, sitting opposite, leaned over and subtly

else

' t loo

nt. But it was... something. A reflex fr

just didn' t

, my mother

t Richard. His son is a

ixty, with a comb-over

, ple

not getting any younger." Her voice

my arm aw

"You' re emba

s. Olivia raised a per

s father. He was laughing, his arm around Oliv

d happy.

st to the tension coi

able, so right, sent a fresh wave of p

just a ghost, a blackmailing

aving, he followed

your mother?" he ask

Mom bei

oked...

ncern? I al

it, Ethan. It has not

ar. He stood th

the keys, my

Av

r now, leaning down, his

. it' s just for the

s what I

vering mine on the ignitio

ood

nd kissed me again. Harder

d no, but my bo

tired of