lingered for all of two seconds before she stepped back.
She walked to the kitchen and grabbed her mug, but stayed there, watching him from a safe distance, he supposed. For the longest time, they didn’t speak, and just when the silence became an unbearable living thing, she looked him in the eye, her chin thrust forward, her shoulders thrown back.
“What do you want, Ethan?”
Where did he start?
“I get that I sprang this on you. I even get that we weren’t in a good place when I did. And maybe I did it all wrong and backward, but you left me no choice. You weren’t talking to me or taking my messages and I… It’s been days since I told you with nothing back, so…”
It wasn’t possible for him to feel more like a shit than he already did. “I’m sorry.” Two simple words that didn’t feel adequate, but they were all he had. “I didn’t react well, and I’m sorry it took me so long to admit it.”
Her mouth fell open, and after a few seconds, she managed a reply. “Wow, I didn’t think we’d get that out of the way so quickly.”
“Yeah, well, I’m slow on the uptake these days.”
“Some things never change,” she muttered just loud enough for him to hear. “Now that I’ve got a half-ass apology, you can leave.”
She was brittle. Hard. And he got it. Emily wasn’t going to make this easy on him, and he deserved no less than for her to grind his gears but good.
He walked over to the kitchen, but stopped just short of the island that separated the space from the living room. Emily was riled up plain as day, and he figured it was a smart move to keep something between them. Especially if that something was big enough to duck behind. She’d always been the type to react strongly. If she decided to toss her hot coffee at him, he wouldn’t stand a chance. A ghost of a smile touched his face.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
“What the hell is so funny?”
He was screwing this up but couldn’t seem to help himself. It wasn’t as if he had a playbook to follow. At least then he’d know what his next move was. As it was, he went with what he had, and what he had was history. Memory. And lot of it.
“I was thinking about the pig races.”
“The what?” She set down her mug and leaned against the counter by the oven, eyes wide in disbelief.
“The Mayor’s Gala, back in our senior year.” He let her digest that. “We volunteered for graduation requirements.”
“And?” Her right eyebrow shot up, and she stood a little straighter. Heat flushed her cheeks a soft pink and her hair tumbled down her shoulders, the ends still sun-kissed, while her eyes glittered, their blue depths as crystal clear as the lake.
“You look beautiful.” He didn’t know he’d said the words aloud until her face screwed up into a frown.
“We’re talking about the pigs.” Again with the sarcasm.
“Right.” He took a sip of coffee and set down the mug. “We were to look after them and organize the races.”
“I remember.” Her eyes narrowed. “You and Rick were supposed to hold them until the bell rang, but you were nowhere to be found, so it was just me and Malarkey.”
“Who?” Now it was Ethan’s turn to frown.
“The pig’s name was Malarkey. I had to hold him, and I could barely keep him still. Then when the bell rang, my belt buckle was caught on his bib or whatever the hell it was they had tied around him and he carried me halfway down the pen.”
“Oh,” Ethan quipped, wanting to crack a smile but thinking better of it. “Is that what happened?”
“The track was covered in pig shit.” She made a face. “Pig. Shit.”
“I remember that part.” He couldn’t stop the grin this time, which made Emily’s frown turn into a scowl. “You hunted me down—”
“All the way to the last stall of the boy’s bathroom shoving your tongue down Miranda Button’s throat. You were scoring while I was being dragged through shit.”
“Literally,” he said at the same time Emily did.
They both fell silent for a few seconds, and then he cleared his throat. “You tossed an entire gallon of vinegar over the top of the stall onto the both of us. It took me days to wash that crap out of my hair.”
“You should have thanked me,” she replied with a haughty air.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“The week