Chapter 10 - Ethan and I try to be a couple
Trauma is rude to romance.
Ethan and I had planned a honeymoon in Portugal.
Instead we spent the first week after our canceled wedding having conversations like:
“Did your mother kidnap me?”
Not ideal.
He moved back into his apartment.
I stayed with Naomi.
We met for dinner.
Walked.
Held hands sometimes.
Other times I could not stand being touched.
One evening Ethan said:
“I feel guilty.”
“For what?”
“Mom hated you.”
“That was her choice.”
“I kept asking you to give her time.”
“Yes.”
“I told you she would come around.”
“Yes.”
“I made you absorb her behavior because I wanted peace.”
That was true.
He looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
Useful apology.
I said:
“I also kept trying to win her over.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted your family.”
He looked at me.
“You had me.”
“At the time, I thought those were the same thing.”
May you like
They weren’t.
That became important whether we married or not.
