Page 54 of Gone for You

“Who’s the lucky guy? Was she engaged when she came here for her birthday? Why wasn’t he here?”

I’m not only excited that I get to see Ethan – well,reallyexcited – the reason I’m going back to Liberty so soon is because I’m going to a bachelorette party for Lily, which they’re doing jointly with her fiance’s bachelor party at The Flying Goat. Neither of them wanted some big wild party so I suggested doing it at Ethan’s bar. Completely unselfish reasons, of course. When I suggested it to her, she laughed at me but agreed immediately.

“Easy, twenty questions. His name is Drew. The assistant coach for the Warriors’s football team. Her cousin Grady introduced them. And he wasn’t here that night because they were on a scouting trip or something.”

Grady is a cousin of Lily’s and the head coach for the Southeast Michigan University football team. The youngest in history.

Ethan’s eyebrows kiss his hairline and a hint of fanboy appears. He sits up in his bed. “No shit?”

I can’t help but smile at how cute and excited he looks. Grady Ryan is like royalty around Liberty. Hometown boy turned celebrity in the college football world. “No shit.”

“That’s awesome.”

“It is. He’s a good guy. She’s happy. And no, she wasn’t engaged yet when she was there. He proposed a few weekends ago and they immediately started planning a spring wedding. Something happened with the venue they had booked for the reception, though, and they had two choices. One just happened to be in their bye-week so they figured it was fate.”

“I bet that’s been fun to try to reschedule.”

I twist a strand of hair around my finger, a habit I’ve had since I was a kid. “It probably helps that her step brother is catering it and her dad is the owner of the restaurant Balance so they weren’t struggling to figure out the food. The woman who owns the Dreamin’ Beans coffee shop does all of her dad’s desserts and Christine took on the task of the cake.”

“Wow. Sounds like it all worked out.”

“Oh my gosh!” I cry out, sitting up in bed, excited that I figured out something. “Did you know that Barrett, the guy who hired Austin, and Tess, the one who helped Samantha find a job, are Lily’s aunts and uncles?”

His eyes widen. “No kidding? What a small freaking world, huh?”

“I know. It was just kind of a fluke that I even found out. Lily was talking about her uncle Barrett building something for the wedding and that he had the new guy he recently hired help him. She said Austin’s name because apparently he had some cool idea and it clicked right away.”

“Austin mentioned that he was helping Barrett with a family thing but I had no idea it was that.”

“How are they doing?” I ask, yawning.

“Good. Good. They’re happy, love their jobs, kids love the house. They’re adjusting to the school. They like it here, feel like they could make a permanent home in Liberty.”

Pride fills my chest for what an incredible guy he is. “You did that.”

He looks away from the phone, embarrassed. “I won’t take the credit for their successes.”

“If you hadn’t taken a chance on them, helped give them a place to live and showed them that they had someone in their corner, who knows where they’d be right now.”

He’s shaking his head but doesn’t deny it. I know he’d never admit it out loud, that’s not the kind of guy he is. He didn’t help Austin and Samantha because of the praise he could receive. It was all because he wanted them to have a better life. It’s a testament to who he is as a person.

It’s one of the reasons I can’t stop my heart from falling for him.

And it scares the ever loving hell out of me.

Chapter 28

Ethan

Her eyes are droopingand I know she’s about to fall asleep. It isn’t the first time I’ve stayed on one of our Facetime calls as she drifts away into dreamland. I wonder if she dreams of me the way I do of her.

I wonder if these moments we’ve spent apart have affected her the same as they have me. It’s only planted her more firmly in my heart than she was earlier. As much as I hate that we haven’t been in the same room in thirty-four days, I love it just the same. Every single day we’ve talked and gotten to know each other better.

She’s unapologetically not perfect and it’s one of the things that I like most about her. Liv doesn’t care if I see her without makeup or her hair a mess. She’s comfortable in her own skin, with who she is. And given how badly her last relationship ended, that’s pretty remarkable. It might have been several years ago, but it was bad enough that she became pretty damn gun shy of committing to another relationship. Since then, she’s dated but hasn’t allowed herself to get serious with men. In fact, one night she admitted until recently she had a fuck buddy — my words, not hers, since she always just called him her friend while using air quotes — who she was with only for that, sex. I could tell she was afraid to tell me but who am I to judge? It’s not as if I’ve had a lot of lasting relationships either. Landon is a guy she works with and shares the same aversion to getting serious with anyone that she does. As much as I hated to hear about her being with other men, I was grateful that she was honest with me. Even more grateful when she made it clear that she and Landon were no longer a thing since I came along.

Maybe I’m getting in there a little more than I initially thought. I hope, anyway. Between her parents’ divorce, Jared being crazy, and Aaron turning into a serial cheater, both dipshits who thought they could be a dick to her, she’s terrified of starting something long term. Even though I know it won’t be easy, I’m willing to wait. For her.

“Tired, baby?”

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