Page 18 of Payback
“It’s no big deal,” Bella lied. “It’ll happen when or if the time is right. If it doesn’t, I’m okay with that too. I love my life just the way it is. I sure as hell don’t need a man to make me happy.”
“You think that because you’ve never found the right one,” Grace said, gently. “Or maybe you have but you’ve been determined to keep him at arm’s length.”
“Hey.”
Bella jumped when her brother put his arm around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before planting one on his wife.
“Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but Mama called and said she couldn’t find the drops for Emma’s ears and she was getting kind of fussy. She didn’t want to bother you with it, but—”
“Oh shoot,” Grace said, holding up a small plastic bottle she’d retrieved from her purse. “I have them right here.”
“I’ll drop them off,” Ethan said, reaching for the bottle.
Grace gave Bella a look that begged forgiveness and understanding at the same time. “Would you mind if we cut our lunch short? I don’t want your mama to be pulling her hair out by the time I get back.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Bella said, waving off her concern. “Go. Lunch is on me.”
“You’re the best,” Grace said, kissing her cheek before blowing one across the table to her husband. “But we’ll pick this up later. Promise?”
“Sure.” When Grace left Bella asked her brother, “Have you eaten? We can ask the waiter to bring a menu.”
“I just had a sandwich a while ago, I’m good.” He folded his arms as he watched her eat. “So, you and Loran, huh?”
“Did he say something?” she asked, stabbing one of the strawberries in her salad with unnecessary force. She didn’t ask Loran to keep their relationships under wraps, but she assumed that would go without saying.
“No, he shuts down whenever I mention it.” Looking amused, he added, “Kind of like you’re doing now.”
She reached for her water glass while clearing her throat. “That’s probably because there’s not much to tell. I’m working on the plans for his new house, which I’m sure you already know, and we’ve had a couple of dinners together, but that’s about it.”
“Mama mentioned you’re not seeing the engineer anymore. Is that because of Loran?”
Yes. “No. It’s because I didn’t want to waste any more of his time. We wanted different things, that’s all. You know I don’t do commitment. That’s what he was after.”
“You don’t do commitment,” he repeated slowly. “Have you told Loran that? ‘Cause I happen to know he’s not big on sharing.”
She rolled her eyes. “How many women has he been with in the past year, E? Seriously.” Not that she really wanted to know.
“A few,” he confirmed, watching her carefully, “and I can tell that bothers you.”
“It does not,” she snapped. “Why would it? It’s not like we were together. Besides, I knew what he was like even before we slept together. That’s why I never expected anything to come of it.”
“Don’t you mean that’s why you wouldn’t allow anything to come of it?”
Now he was blaming her for what went down with Loran? So much for family loyalty. “I seem to recall you warning me to stay away from him because he was a player. Now you’re defending him?”
“I’m not defending him.” Ethan leaned in. “And you’re right, I did warn you to stay away from him. But that was before I realized you were different.”
She scoffed. “You just told me he’s been chasing everything in a skirt since—”
“That’s not what I said.” He held a finger up to silence her. “Don’t put words in my mouth. You asked if he’d been with other women and I confirmed what you already knew. That he had. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about you or—”
“Spare me.” She didn’t even know why she was getting so angry. It’s not like he’d told her anything she didn’t already know about his friend. “I don’t need to sit here and listen to you defend him. I can form my own opinions about the man, thank you very much.”
“I just don’t want your opinion to be colored by the things I said about him when you guys were getting to know each other.” He sighed. “You’re my kid sister. I was just looking out for you. But I can see now that I was wrong to interfere.”
Bella suddenly felt bad for giving her brother a hard time. Curling her hand around his forearm, she said, “Relax. The fact that things didn’t work out between us had nothing to do with you.”
“You sure about that?”
