Page 17 of Jaime
“It seems like you think of everything.”
Something flickered in his eyes when he looked at me.
“You know, I’m seven years older than you are,” he said. “It took me some time to figure it all out. I had to go through my own struggles first.”
My heart squeezed.
I hadn’t thought of that. In fact, all this time, it had been about me and Evie. Hearing this more human side of Ethan made my stomach hurt. The idea of him going through any sort of darkness bothered me because it didn’t fit the image I had of him. I was disappointed to realize I’d put him in a bit of a box: the naturally perfect father figure who would never let anyone down or have any issues of his own.
I swallowed.
“Is that the real reason you’re helping me?” I asked.
He smiled sadly.
“Maybe that’s part of it. I think that’s why I do a lot of the things I do.”
He fell silent, his crystal blue gaze fixed on the road.
“Losing my mother and sister when I was a kid was really hard for me. That was why I wanted to start helping children.”
Without realizing it, my hand landed on his arm.
“I lost my mom,” I said. “When I was six. It’s hard for any child... I'm sorry you went through that too… I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to lose Liz too.”
He looked down at my hand on his arm, then back up, meeting my eyes, something unreadable, visible within.
“What happened to her?” he asked gently.
Even after all these years, I had to force the words out.
“She was hit by a car.”
He grimaced.
“I swear it’s worse when you don’t have any warning. Being able to say goodbye makes it a bit better.”
I shrugged.
I couldn’t imagine that anything could make it better.
“What about your mom and sister? Was it an accident?”
“It was really unexpected,” he started, but before he could say more, a white car with an UBER sticker on the front pulled up in front of us.
CHAPTER6
ETHAN
Not that Iwas surprised by how sweet Jaime was, but the understanding and sympathy in his gaze hit me hard.
I had toworkto keep it together, to not fall into the memories and pain. After so much time and copious therapy, I didn’t often feel like it was a problem.
But after a day spent with Jamie’s anxious energy and with Evie being here, I seemed to be falling back into it.
There was nothing wrong with feeling it, I knew that, but I didn’t want to on the side of the street, not in front of Jaime... I didn’t want to upset him. Not when he kept looking at me like I made the sun rise.
Sitting in the cab, with Evie cradled in her new car seat between us, it hit me that we were almost done. Evie had her bed, her carrier, and plenty of supplies... If I didn’t back off soon, Jaime was going to start thinking I was sticking around for other reasons, and yeah… that would have been tempting, if not for his reaction at the store.
