True to Me - Kay Bratt Page 0,87
be ridiculous. I saw that tiny shed you’re staying in, and it’s not big enough for two. Not even to talk in.”
Obviously he didn’t know Maggie was there yet. That would really set him off. “It’s not a shed. And no one invited you into it.”
She could feel him simmering at that. He wasn’t used to her being antagonistic, but it slipped out before she could guard her tongue. At least she hadn’t told him to go find a room with Gina, which was what she wanted to say.
Logically, she knew starting a verbal war with him would get them nowhere. The emotional side of her wanted to jump up and kick his manly jewels for what he’d done, but that would also probably take things in the wrong direction.
“I can’t say I’m surprised you came,” she said, her tone less provoking. “But I’m definitely not happy about it.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t talk to me. What else was I supposed to do?”
“Let me have some space is what you were supposed to do,” she said, feeling irritated. This was her place. And his arrival made it feel less so. He was ruining the day that had started on a good note. “Can you stop standing over me like that? Sit down if you insist on staying.”
He gestured around him. “This isn’t really a conducive location for discussing our relationship.”
Everything in her wanted to run, but he had come all the way to Maui. She had to give him that. A part of her was glad he was finally there. That he cared enough to come find her. But he was going to have to work for it if he wanted her forgiveness.
“Well, you’re the one who came out here. And you are the one who obviously has something to say. If you want me to listen, I’m here, in this spot, at this minute,” she said.
His face was still shadowed, but she could tell he was frustrated. He grimaced like it was beneath him to sit on the sand but settled himself beside her anyway. “That Hawaiian woman directed me to the path. Said I’d find you down here.”
“Maria? What did you say to her?” Quinn sat up straighter. She hoped he hadn’t been a jerk.
“I just told her I’m your fiancé surprising you with a visit and asked where you were. What did you think I was going to say?”
“I never know with you,” she replied, relieved that he hadn’t just demanded they all get their stuff out of the house his fiancée owned. She could just see him having them all packed up and sitting at the curb within an hour, even with Pali laid up with broken bones. Ethan often showed no mercy and took pride in his ability to take on a challenge and succeed.
Now that she could see his face, she noted that he didn’t appear to have had any sleepless nights or loss of appetite. If this was how he showed guilt and remorse, it looked good on him. He’d had a haircut, she saw, wondering if he’d gotten it for the trip or just because it was on his schedule.
“You made me come after you, and I’m here,” he said. “But we’ve got to get back because I have to be in Phoenix by the end of the week, then Dallas after that. Both of our cars are scheduled for a tune-up, and you know my mom always comes to visit on the last week of this month.”
Quinn felt exhausted just listening to him. Being in Maui had definitely opened her eyes to another way of living than what they were used to. Here, if there was a big swell coming or a day of sunshine after a week of rain, everyone dropped everything and headed to the beach. If someone had a small good thing happen to them, they gathered with family for food and celebration. No one lived on a tight schedule of must-dos and must-haves.
At first it had felt strange to her, even unsettling. But now she looked at Ethan and thought about how buttoned up their lives really were. How regulated. Boring, even.
“Do you ever get tired of outlining our life?”
“What are you talking about, Quinn?” He sounded irritated.
“I’m saying why aren’t we ever just spontaneous?”
“In what way?” He sounded like she was asking him to solve the world’s most difficult equation.
“Never mind, Ethan,” she said. “Look, say what you need to say because I’ve got important things to