The drive home was the same. I shivered in the passenger seat, as he sped through LA. We marched up the stairs together till we stooped by my room.“I had a good time at dinner.” I told him as I searched his eyes for the kinder Ethan. The one who had a soul behind his eyes.“I’m glad.” He responded shutting me out.Desperate for some kind of connection, i pressed my body flush against his and kissed him, waiting for him to respond. He remained frozen for a second, and then he gripped me tightly against his body.I wasn’t sure i wanted to make love to Ethan that night. I felt alone, even with him.“My new favorite thing is you kissing me.” He said hoarsely against my lips while I trembled at the ferocity of our kiss.He groaned as he pulled away from me.“I need to leave. I have a work emergency I need to attend to.”Discomfort snaked it’s way through my chest and found it’s home in my heart. All evening I hadn’t seen Ethan touch his phone. How did he hear of an emergency then?
“Okay, send me the details.” I told her finally. This was part of my deal, blending with his people. “Oh Wynona, there’s the fashion show, the Legacy luxe by Anna-“ “Yeah, what about it? Wait are you going to be on it?” “I donno…” I said slowly.“Of course you are, and so am I.” So was Ava. “I could not make it to her last one we’ll do this one together. We’re going to have so much fun!”“I’m glad you’re excited.” I grinned, getting on my knees to retrieve the glue-gun from underneath the center table in the living room.“You should be too, I heard she’s displaying Saskia van der Meer’s works. Do you know how rare it is to see even a single dress that belongs in her collection, and we’re getting nearly a dozen!” “I gotta see that.” I admitted.“Exactly, i don’t know if I’ll ever get to wear a Saskia dress in my entire life. Now’s a good fucking time.”“Fine, I’m convinced.” I said with a laugh, still sitting on my knees. “Send your party thing okay, I’ve gotta get back to wreckin
Ethan’s grandfather made sure I was in riding gear, complete with an helmet before he let me mount one of his horses, Sage.I tried to stay calm as the horse bristled underneath me and he spoke to it like a kid.“Does baby talk usually work on horses?” I asked, amusement in my voice. He gave my horse final pats on it bottom before he mounted his in one fluid motion. His age had not limited his agility.“Oh yes, they’re basically oversize puppies. They can be cheeky as well. Which is why I told you. You gotta stay calm. If she senses your fear, she’ll react to it.”“It’s hard to stay calm when you’re on a self operating beast.”He chuckled. “You remind me of Ethan’s first rides. His father let him come with me after he turned fourteen. He refused to get on until I swore, the horse would not move an inch while he was on.”“How did that work out?”“Oh the usual, the horse made a run for it and your fiancé screamed to high heavens as he fell behind.” I cracked up at the picture of
The guilt of lying to Bron followed me all the way back home. Without thinking my feet led me to Ethan’s office, where I found him behind his desk, working.He shut off a tablet when I stepped in.“Hey,” I muttered drawing closer to him.“How’d your day go.” I let out a big sigh.”that bad huh?”“No it was good, I think. It went well. A little too well.”I though about what he said about finding love with Ethan. He was genuinely happy for his grandson and we were here faking it.“Come here.” He urged me.I jumped onto his desk and swung my legs at the bottom before he grabbed a hold of one and began undoing the lacing on my shoe. “Tell me how it went.”“Well we talked,” I shrugged “about his horses, their skills…he told me about your first riding experience.“Ethan chuckled as he slipped of the shoe and started with the second one. “My father still doesn’t know about that incident till this day.”“He asked about the restaurant.”“And?”“That went well too.”“So what’s both
“I bless my stars that your Fiancé decided to unveil you to the rest of us.” Anna spoke as she made her way to me. “You. You will wear the dress.”“But it’s a statement piece!” Ava protested as she battled her way through the women. “It was literally the last thing Saskia’s hands touched before she chucked herself off the roof.” I winced at her wording. ”a more experienced model should wear it.” She finished.“That dress highlights the suddenness of her death, as it is incomplete…” Anna explained her eyes burning into mine. “You showed up into our world unannounced, it’s so perfect I could cry.” “That’s ridiculous.” Ava scoffed in disbelief and looked around for support. “I think the dress should be removed from the show-to honor her family.” She said finally. A few women murmured in agreement.“That’s a bunch of crap.” Wynona shot back. “The first sighting of this collection since Saskia’s passing and you think the right thing to do is hide the dress? Stick to modeling Ava, not ha
“We can fix it.” I blurted out, both women turned to me.“There’s so many, problems with it right now, this isn’t something you fix in under thirty minutes even with multiple designers working and it’s going to look flawed as-““Well not fix, We can change it.”“We are not tampering with it any further.”“Just the top half Anna. There’s little we can do with it looking like it does already. If we don’t show it tonight, It’ll NEVER be seen.”She denied with a shake of her head. “This dress will not be on display tonight, I need to find a way to break the news to Hilde.”“Whoever did this, did not want this dress in the pageantry,” I insisted, “you’re just doing what they want, we shouldn’t give them that.”Anna paused considering. “Just listen.”“Tell me what you have in mind. We have less than twenty minutes to fix it and have you in it. We have to work fast.“Four minutes till you have to be on stage.” Anna informed us.God I prayed my plan would work. “You should go and ta
“We can fix it.” I blurted out, both women turned to me.“There’s so many, problems with it right now, this isn’t something you fix in under thirty minutes even with multiple designers working and it’s going to look flawed as-““Well not fix, We can change it.”“We are not tampering with it any further.”“Just the top half Anna. There’s little we can do with it looking like it does already. If we don’t show it tonight, It’ll NEVER be seen.”She denied with a shake of her head. “This dress will not be on display tonight, I need to find a way to break the news to Hilde.”“Whoever did this, did not want this dress in the pageantry,” I insisted, “you’re just doing what they want, we shouldn’t give them that.”Anna paused considering. “Just listen.”“Tell me what you have in mind. We have less than twenty minutes to fix it and have you in it. We have to work fast.“Four minutes till you have to be on stage.” Anna informed us.God I prayed my plan would work. “You should go and ta
I was hiding again in the pantry for the third time that day. If mum called me again to ask where I put the soy sauce, I would curl into a ball and disappear. Things were easier before, when dad was still in charge. The restaurant scene was his shmuck anyway, but then he got sick and now we were failing, woefully.My watch flashed, signaling the end of my five-minute hiatus. That was how long I could stay in there without getting bothered. To prove my point, the door handle twisted above my head. When the door did not budge, a voice called out.“Ehh... Mae, is that you? I need to get some flour, we’ve run out.”I sighed, rose from the floor, and unlocked the door. Lisa’s round face came into view. She smiled kindly at me, before hurrying into the pantry. As I walked back to the kitchen, the sound of clanging pots and knives on chop boards grew louder. My mum was yelling at José in Italian again.I was glad I only had to wait tables; a day in the kitchen with my mother would kill me.W