Page 117 of Stolen Fate

“Ethan, I want to talk to Evelyn,” Emilia said, her voice tinged with excitement. Guilt pulled at my heartstrings. I had been ignoring most of her calls as well. But I did miss her. Hell, I even missed Ethan. And my dad and Katie.

I missed Boston.

But I didn’t want to go back.

It was the first time I’d ever admitted that to myself, and I didn’t feel guilty for it like I thought I would. I still sometimes wished we could get back to the way things were, when we were little and we were each other’s whole worlds. When we didn’t have a single thing to worry about because our parents were there.

“Hold on, brat. You can talk to her when I’m done,” Ethan said, his voice muffling a little. There was a shuffling noise on his end of the line, then what sounded like the door closing, before Ethan’s voice came back on, clearer than it was before.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I know how Emilia is.”

There was a smile and fondness in his voice when he said, “Yeah, I know.”

I shifted on my bed until my legs were hanging out over the edge and looked out the window. The sun was barely coming up, and I didn’t really have a lot of time to talk, but it was nice to hear everyone’s voice again.

“Is there a reason you called?” I asked. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to rush you, but I have to wake Elliot up for school soon.”

“Elliot? Is that the name of the little boy you’re caring for?”

I smiled. “Yeah, that’s him.”

Ethan cleared his throat a bit. “You sound different.”

“Different? Different good or different bad?”

“Different good,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. I turned up the call volume a little. “You sound… lighter.”

“Lighter?”

“Yeah. Like you’re not being held down by everything anymore. Like you’re enjoying life.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t know why my lower lips were trembling or why I wanted to cry.

We didn’t say anything for a while, but I knew he was still there, because I could hear his heavy breathing and feel the tension between us that, oddly enough, wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be.

“Could you ever do it, Evelyn? Could you ever forgive me for breaking you?”

“Ethan… you didn’t break me.”

“I didn’t? Because I haven’t been able to recognize my sister for the past six years. And it’s all my fault. Fuck, Evelyn. I knew it was. I knew it was all my fucking fault, and I am so sorry.”

His voice broke on the last word, and I didn’t have to see him to know he was crying. I rarely ever saw Ethan cry. The last time had been during my mom’s funeral, but it wasn’t like me and Emilia did. I realized now he couldn’t have let go the way he wanted because he had to stay strong for our dad.

“I’m okay, now,” I said, and I meant it. There were so many things I wished I could change, mostly the things that had happened six years ago, but I knew that wasn’t possible. What was possible was healing from it, and I truly believed I was more than halfway there. I was okay.

“I’m glad you’re okay. That you’re happy. You sound happy, and perhaps the move was the best thing you could have done for yourself. But you should probably let Katie know that or she would really make good on her threat to kick my ass.”

I let out a watery laugh and wiped away my tears with my shirt. “When did she threaten you?”

“The day after you left, when I helped Emilia move in.”

“And Lord knows how protective Katie is of me.”

“Yes, she is. You’re lucky to have a friend like her,” he said, and I could almost hear the fondness in his voice at the mention of Katie.

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