Page 133 of Mile High Ex's Dad
“He was my boyfriend. He hurt me. He made me feel small for a long time, and by the time it ended there wasn’t much left to explain except embarrassment. Then I ended up here, and suddenly he was the groom, and you were…” I stop, shake my head once. “Well.”
“Did you know who I was when we met? Was it a twisted form of revenge?”
My eyes widen. “What? No. I had no idea. Ethan never told me anything about either of his parents, or the rest of his family. I was a secret.”
He still doesn’t say anything.
“I didn’t want you hearing about me from him,” I say.
Something moves in his face at that. Small. Deep. Hard to name.
“He doesn’t get to tell my story,” I say. “Not to you.”
For the first time since I ran after him, some of the tension leaves his shoulders.
Not much.
Enough.
He lifts a hand then, slower this time, giving me every chance to stop him, and touches just above my elbow where he held me. His thumb brushes the spot once, carefully, as if apologizing again without words.
“I don’t like being lied to,” he says.
“I know.”
“I like it even less when it concerns you. But you still chose not to tell me who he was.”
I look at him helplessly. “I didn’t want him to matter.”
“And instead you made him matter more.”
I close my eyes for a second. Because again, he’s right.
When I open them, he’s still looking at me with that same wounded, shut-down expression, and now I know what this is starting to feel like.
Whatever was between us, it’s over for good.
“I need distance from this,” he says.
From this.
From me.
I can feel my throat tightening, but I refuse to cry in front of him. Not now. Not when he already looks like he regrets enough.
“So that’s it,” I say.
His face shifts, only slightly. “For tonight.”
But I already know the truth.
I fold my arms across myself, suddenly cold. He looks at me for one more second, then reaches out as if to touch me.
I flinch before he can, and he stops immediately.
His hand falls back to his side.
“I’ll see you at the wedding,” he says, glancing down at my belly once. “Go.”
