Page 65 of Cruel Embers
“No worries, I have an extra cushion,” she says, smiling. She’s positively glowing, and here I am, almost stampeding straight into her.
“You okay?” she questions. I’m far from it, but I sure don’t want to pull her into whatever this is between Violet and me before we even have a chance to talk about it properly.
So I just nod. “Of course, I just want to go and make sure everything is squared away out there.”
And with that, I make my way back into the main hall. And I quickly realise there’s nothing left to do.
Meg comes over, carrying a tired Jacob in her arms, and goes on tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the cheek.
“We’re going to get him home,” she says, just as Henry comes up to her side holding a platter in one hand and then holds his fist out to me.
“See you tomorrow,” he says.
“Yep, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” I reply, stroking my hand over Jacob's dark brown hair.
“Later, little man.” He nods with his thumb in his mouth.
“Dinner Wednesday?” I ask Meg.
She nods. “Of course.” And then raises an eyebrow. “Make sure you bring dessert.”
I give a mock roll of my eyes. “Honestly, I forget one time!” I hold up my index finger for emphasis.
“Bye,” Henry says, wrapping his arm over Meg’s shoulders and giving Ethan a nod before they leave us alone in the hall.
Ethan stands next to me, his face split into the biggest grin.
“So, did we do good or what?” I ask. I never knew how nice it was to say the wordweuntil now.
He pulls me in for a tight hug, squeezing hard before pulling back.
“We couldn’t have planned it better, and honestly, I think it's the stress we didn’t need. So thank you, it means a lot.”
I smile. “No, thank you to you and Lottie for trusting me not to fuck it up,” I say, only half joking. The truth is, I’ve always felt like a bit of a failure.
“Of course.” His words are sincere. “Don’t suppose you’ve seen the love of my life, have you? She was going to speak to Violet.”
“Yeah, she’s probably with her in the kitchen.”
I follow a few steps behind him.
“What's that?” Ethan asks, but I missed the tail end of the conversation.
“Vi still hasn’t found anyone to move in,” Lottie says.
Ethan turns to look at me; don’t say it. “You’re still looking, right?”
He said it.Fuck.
“I have a few options lined up,” I lie. Because with everything else going on, I haven’t even been looking.
Ethan pats me on the back hard with a shake of his head. “No, you don’t. Yesterday, you told me you might even have to go back home for a while.”
I doubt my expression hides my silent chastising. Thanks a fucking bunch, man. I know he thinks he’s helping, but he’s not.
“Sounds to me like you’d both be doing each other a favour,” Lottie pipes in. Wow, these two are as bad as each other. I also don’t miss the look on Vi’s face, either, and this is awkward.
“Listen, guys, I know you two don’t exactly see eye to eye, but when the twins arrive, you’ll be seeing a lot more of each other anyway. I mean, would it really be so terrible? You pulled this off without killing one another,” Ethan says, pulling Lottie to his side, kissing her on the temple.
