Sadie (21 page)

He said nothing.

We worked the rest of the afternoon until the night worker came in to take over. We knew the store wasn’t busy in the evening, but we liked to stay open anyway. I told my dad to meet at my apartment later that evening. We could decide where to go then. I wanted to text Ethan at work to let him know of the change of plans, but it completely slipped my mind.              After I got home and showered, I took Koku out to do his business then waited for Ethan to come over. When I heard a knock on the door, I felt my heart explode. I practically ran to answer it.

When I saw him standing on the threshold, I was about to jump into his arms but I stopped. He was holding a vase of red roses. They were beautiful.

“Awe, Ethan.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you like them
, baby.”

I took it
from his hand and smelled the flowers. They smelled fresh.

“
Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

I placed them on the counter and noticed the card taped to the vase. I opened the small envelope and read the print.

I
’ll love you until the last one dies.

I wasn’t sure
what to make of it. Did he just tell me that he loved me? I wasn’t sure.

Ethan stared at me, waiting for me to say something.

“Uh, thank you.”

“They are all beautiful, huh?”

“Yeah.”

He ran his hands down the stems until he pulled on
e out. He dropped it on the counter and it made a loud noise. It was solid. I raised an eyebrow. I had no idea what was going on.

“Baby, this one is fake.”

I grabbed the plastic rose and felt the texture. It was made of cloth. “Oh.” I thought about it for a moment then it dawned on me. “Then it won’t die.”

He smiled. “Exactly.”

“So that means—”

“I’ll love you forever.”

My heart jumped into my throat at the revelation. Tears bubbled under my eyes and I felt myself become dizzy. It was so sweet and wonderful. I couldn’t believe it. “I—I love you too, Ethan.”

“Do you really?” he asked as he rubbed his nose against mine. “I’ve loved you this whole time. I just didn’t want to scare you off.”

“Ethan, I loved you the first time we made love.”

“Good. Me too.”

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Well, believe it
, baby.”

“I love you so much.” The tears poured down my face. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I never thought I would find you.
I’ve never felt this way for anyone. I thought I was going to die alone.”

He kissed me on the head. “I feel the same way.”

“There were so many times I wanted to tell you the truth.”

“I thought my sister was going to give me away—that brat.”

I smiled. “I was hoping it was true.”

“It definitely was.”
He grabbed my face and kissed me. “Now let me make love to you.”

I melted at his words. “Uh—we can’t.”

“What?”

“I’m so sorry. My dad is coming to dinner. He’ll be here any minute.”

He stepped back. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I’m sorry. He just seemed so lonely this afternoon. I could
n’t say no.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Please don’t be mad.”

“Baby, I’m not. I like your dad. I don’t have a problem spending time with him. I—I just wanted this night to be about us. That’s why I planned this. If I had known your dad was coming
, I would have rescheduled. I wanted it to be special.”

I hugged him. “It was special, Ethan—amazing.”

“I’ve never told a girl I loved her before. I wanted it to be perfect.”

“It was. Nothing could have been better. I’m just so happy right now.”

He pulled away. “I guess we have the rest of our lives, right?”

Another tear fell down my cheek. “We do.”

“Okay.”

I jumped on my toes.

He smiled at me. “Excited?”

“I’m just so happy.”

“You’re so adorable. I can’t believe someone so amazing loves me.”

I shook my head. “I have no idea where this is coming from. I’m not particularly beautiful, but I’m not ugly. I’m decently intelligent. I’m—nothing special.”

His eyes turned angry. “I never want to hear you say that again. You’re absolutely extraordinary—amazing. I wake up every morning knowing I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear you talk like that ever again.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed my face and kissed me. “So, when are you going to tell your girlfriends?”

“As soon as you leave.”

“Do they know about our breakup fiasco?”

“No.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, schedule a time to see them when I’m busy. I like to spend time with you. You keep blowing me off for your brother, your friends, then we had to spend time with my family.”

I smiled. “We have the rest of our lives, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “How was your day?”

I felt my heart stop. I really didn’t want to mention the fiasco with Alex, especially since I didn’t call Ethan liked I said I would. The only reason why I didn’t was because I had good intentions. I didn’t want Ethan to lose his job over something so stupid. But I didn’t want to tell him about it now after he told me he loved me, and especially since we were about to go out
with my dad. I really doubted my father would bring it up…so I decided to save it for the morning. “Good. How was yours?”

“Filled with anxiety. I was nervous how tonight would go.”

“I’ve loved you this whole time. I thought that was obvious.”

He shrugged. “You can never be certain.”

The knock on the door broke our moment.

Ethan sighed as he dropped his hand. I walked to the door and opened it.

“Hey,” my dad said happily. He was wearing a collared shirt and jeans.

Ethan walked over and shook his hand. “Hello, Mr. Montague. Thanks for coming tonight.”

“Well, thanks for the invite,” he said as he dropped his hand.

“So what do you want to eat,
Dad?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’ll eat anything. You know me.”

Ethan turned to me. “What do you want, baby?”

I smiled. I liked that he was still affectionate with me in front of my father.
“I like Italian.”

“Italian it is.”

My dad leaned toward Ethan. “That’s a bad way to start a relationship. She’ll start to think she has all the power.”

Ethan glanced at me. “I think it’s too late for me.”

I smiled. “Yes, it is.”

Ethan sighed. “Damn.”

My father clapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Ethan said with a laugh.

“You know I can hear you,” I said.

My dad shrugged. “I had to warn him. It’s my duty.”

I rolled my eyes then walked out the door. We left the building then reached the sidewalk. Ethan wrapped his arm around my shoulder and held me close to him. He acted the same way he did when we were alone—almost the same. We reached the restaurant and took our seat. It was the same restaurant that I went to with Alex—when I was tricked by my brother.

Ethan rested his arm on the back of my chair, being affectionate at all times. My father didn’t seem uncomfortable by the closeness. He had never seen me with a boyfriend before so I wasn’t sure how he would feel. But then again, he saw me make out with Ethan a few times. I guess this was nothing compared to that.

“How’s the shop doing?” Ethan asked.

“Good,” my dad answered. “Business is alway
s up and down. How’s Wall Street? That sounds a lot more interesting.”

Ethan laughed. “Not really, actually. It’s basically the same job but a different day.”

“But the pay must be nice.”

Ethan nodded but said nothing.

I liked how humble Ethan was. Anytime my brother had the opportunity to tell anyone he went Harvard, he milked it dry. I loved my brother but sometimes he could be annoying.

My dad looked at me. “Did you and Alex work it out?”

I stiffened at his question. I felt Ethan tense beside me.

“Uh
, we haven’t talked.”

“He seemed really upset
today. You should give him a chance,” my dad said.

Ethan controlled his anger
, but it still seeped out. “What happened today?” He stared at me.

“I ran into him really quick. We argued, but nothing happened.”

My dad raised an eyebrow. “He seemed distraught when came into the shop.”

I wanted to punch my dad in the face. I could really do it.

Ethan lowered his arm from the back of my chair. I knew I was in trouble. “And what did Alex say?”

I looked at him. “He just wanted to apologize—that’s all.” I glared at my father, daring
him to say another word. Thankfully, he was silent.

Ethan said nothing more. I knew he was livid even though he ke
pt his cool. He was quiet for the rest of dinner, saying very little. His phone kept vibrating in his pocket and I felt it against my leg, but he didn’t answer it.

My dad talked about the shop and sports, something I had no interest in. Ethan carried the conversation, but I knew his mind was elsewhere. I knew he was going
to unleash his anger as soon as we were alone. His phone kept vibrating in his pocket and it kept rubbing against my leg.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” I asked.

He looked at me. “We’re at dinner. That would be rude.”

When the check came, Ethan paid for it even though my father offered. We left the restaurant
and said our goodbyes on the sidewalk. When my father walked away and waved down a cab, Ethan immediately turned to me. There were flames in his eyes and I knew this was going to be a big fight. But instead of speaking, he just walked away. I walked beside him as he headed back to my apartment. He didn’t touch me and kept his hands in his pockets, which worried me. When I wrapped my arm around his, he didn’t push me away but he was still distant.

When I closed the apartment door behind me, the battle began.

He gripped his hair as he paced around the apartment. Koku ran up to him but scurried away when he noticed the tension. “Why the fuck didn’t you call me?”

“Ethan, you were at work.”

“You think I give a shit? If some asshole is harassing my girlfriend, I want to know about it.”

“I don’t want you to get fired, Ethan.”

He glared at me. “Let me worry about my job!”

“I was going to tell you but I wanted to wait until tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “I highly doubt that.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “You see this?”

I stepped back. “I know what a phone is. I’m not stupid.”

“Then use it! My phone is on me all day, every day. All you had to do was call. That’s all I asked you to do.” His phone went off and he received another message.

“Who the hell has been calling you all night?”

“I don’t know,” he snapped. “And I don’t care.”

I glared at him. “You know exactly who’s calling you.”

“What?”

“Well, you obviously know it isn’t your sister.”

He said nothing.

I grabbed the phone and opened the messages. Three different girls were inviting him over tonight. Ethan didn’t try to take it back. “And what the fuc
k is this? I thought you said you told them you were settled down?”

“It’s not my fault they don’t understand the meaning of no.”

“Well, it’s not my fault that Alex doesn’t understand the meaning of
no
.”

He stepped closer to me. “If you want to beat the shit out of these girl
s, go ahead. I don’t give a damn, Sadie. But you’re always defending Alex. These are completely different situations.”

I opened his messages and started looking through them. “L
et’s see if you even told them you had a girlfriend.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped. “What happened to trusting me?”

I continued to read through them.

He shook his head. “That’s fucking low, Sadie. I like how you turn this argument back on me. Now it’s my fault. You’re the liar that didn’t tell me the truth.”

“I didn’t lie!”

“I fucking asked you what you did today, and you di
dn’t mention it once! You had the perfect opportunity but you lied!”