Page 209 of Ewan

“Listen to me closely. I don’t know what he had told you about his past.”

I cross my arms over my chest, my blood zipping through me at a dizzying speed.

“Not much.”

“Right. Well, you must know about my sister.”

“Yes, I do. But how much do you know about him and me?”

“Enough.”

“Who told you about us?”

“It doesn’t matter. If Margot were here today, she herself would tell you to give Ewan a chance,” she says in a quiet voice, trimmed with emotion.

“I don’t think it’s about that. We barely got to know each other.”

“I think you two know a lot about each other. He never did the things he did for you with any other woman since my sister passed. He said he’d never get married or have a serious relationship with a woman, and that’s exactly what he did. Sadly, by doing that he did no one a favor. Ewan is born to be a husband and a father. He has it in him. Margot knew that. And he knew that, too, but he thought he could forever stay away from that part of his life. None of us were happy with his choices. Not Ezra. And not me.”

I have a hunch.

“Ezra told you about me.”

“He asked me to help him get you two together again. His father clammed up after you left his house.”

I lift an eyebrow.

“Yes, he gave me the backstory,” she says, irritated. “I was so happy when he told me it was you,” she adds in a different voice. She sighs. “I don’t know why you two split up. I have no idea and don’t care. All I care for is you two to be adults about it. You were all right until Ezra arrived. All I can think of is that, for whatever reason, you got spooked.”

“You know…” I say quietly. “He didn’t even give me his name. And we started seeing each other in secret, which gave me plenty of reasons not to trust him.”

She listens to me, unfazed.

“His name is Bard. And he probably did what he did because he was afraid of losing you. And he was right, wasn’t he? Which only proves my point. He thought about you seriously. That’s why he was so secretive about everything. Anyway, he’s here. You’re here. Please talk to him. And if things don’t work out, at least you did your best. Wait here,” she says and swiftly leaves the room while my heart wants to climb out of my chest and go with her.

A quiet sigh leaves my chest when I sag against the back of a nearby chair, a strange sensation poking at me.

At first, I have no idea what it is.

It’s a nagging feeling. Like I forget to do something. Like I missed something important.

I wish I knew what it was.

Waiting for him, I reach inside my bag and check my phone, and then the sensation morphs into a thought, and I get into my last conversation with my friend, Sammy.

I slip into the chat, and there it is. Her last message. The one I never got around to reading.

My knees weaken, although I push upright as I re-read her message.

Sammy: His name is Bard. Ewan Bard.

My hand drops to my side, the screen going dark.

Fucking good thinking, Scarlett.

The universe was trying to help, and I couldn’t even be bothered with it.

SCARLETT

---