“Not long,” Ethan replied. “I got her pregnant, turned my back on her and didn’t love her enough.” He frowned. “I didn’t know she was pregnant. If I’d known, I woulda married her. Which makes me the bad guy. Doing the right thing is wrong. You two know that?”
“She’s not mad because you would have married her,” Josh explained.
“Then why?”
His friend shifted on the sofa. “Women are complicated.”
“She said I don’t love her. I do. Always did. I never saw that before.” He gulped more Scotch. “There was always something about her.”
“What did you say?” Raoul asked. “When you said you loved her?”
Ethan squinted at the other man, trying to bring him into focus. “I said I loved her. That I wanted to marry her and it wasn’t because it was prac…” He cleared his throat. “Practical.”
“When did you say it was practical?” Josh asked.
Ethan waved. “You know. Before.”
“Before what?”
“The lasht time I proposed.” Was it him or did his words sound funny? “Before I knew I loved her. Said we should get married because it’s the right thing to do.”
His face had gone numb, he thought, poking his cheek a few times. And his brain felt boiled. Or was it pickled? Maybe it was pickled.
“Keep her in town. With the kids. So I could be with Tyler.”
“You are so screwed,” Josh said conversationally. “You shouldn’t have said that.”
“Maybe not. But I love her and she doesn’t care. How can she not care?”
“Maybe she cares too much,” Raoul told him. “You’ve been acting like a jerk for a while now. What if she’s loved you all along? She’s been waiting for you to notice and instead you offered a business arrangement.”
“And took her kid from her,” Josh added.
“Didn’t take. It was just a few days. Kids are hard. Women make it look so easy, but it’s hard.” Ethan closed his eyes and leaned back in the sofa leather.
His fingers relaxed on the glass. He heard someone get up suddenly and then the glass was gone.
“You’re about ready to pass out,” Raoul said.
“Gotta talk to Liz.”
“You need to give Liz some time,” Josh told him. “And you need a plan. You’ve blown it from the beginning. You need to make a big gesture.”
“Liz isn’t the big gesture type,” Ethan mumbled, feeling himself start to drift. “I think she wants to be left alone. I should give her what she wants.”
“The woman wants to be swept away,” Raoul corrected him. “I know about these things.”
“Not Liz.”
There was the pain the other men had promised, but it wasn’t from the alcohol. Instead it came from his heart—in knowing he could never have Liz. Maybe there’d been a chance, but he’d blown it too many times.
She’d said she loved him. That was nice of her. Kind. He would hold onto those words always, knowing that if he’d been smarter… If he’d understood more sooner, he could have had her.
“Love Liz,” he mumbled.
“We got that,” Josh said. “You should tell her.”
“Too late. Way too late.”
And then the world went dark.
LIZ CLOSED UP HER HOUSE IN San Francisco quicker than she would have thought. She ended up leaving all three kids with Denise. For some reason she’d been unable to get Ethan on the phone later that Sunday. Denise had said everything was fine, but wouldn’t go into details.
After making the drive to the beautiful city by the bay, she’d spent two days with Peggy, sorting through the items she and Tyler would need in the next couple of months and what they could live without.
The must-have items were packed up and marked for the shipping company to pick up at the end of the week. Peggy would arrange for movers to take care of the rest.
Selling the house proved to be beyond easy. Liz had called a friend who was in real estate. Heidi had admitted that she and her husband had always loved the house, had decided to start a family and were desperate to get out of their apartment. Negotiations took less than an hour, the inspection was on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning, they were in escrow for a quick close. Peggy planned to come to Fool’s Gold the week after Labor Day, to see if she wanted to move there.
With everything settled, Thursday morning, Liz started back for Fool’s Gold. She and Ethan had an appointment with the judge the next day. With her settling in town and with plans to co-parent Tyler, they could meet the judge’s requirements and both avoid jail.
After picking up the kids, they went out to the Fox and Hound for lunch.
“School starts on Tuesday,” Melissa said as soon as they’d slid into the booth. “We all need clothes and supplies. We’re really behind on our shopping.”
Liz laughed. “Are we?”
“There’s three of us now, Mom,” Tyler indicated. “It’s gonna take longer.”
“You’re right. When we get home, you can all make lists of what you need. We’ll head out later and start the shopping. We’ll do clothes tonight, then school supplies tomorrow. I have to be in court at nine, but it shouldn’t take long.”
Tyler grinned. “Are you going to talk to the judge and tell her that you’re staying in town?”