He frowned. She wasn’t wrong. He was dating a well-meaning young woman who couldn’t make a decision to save her life, which had left him feeling exhausted and like he was the only one putting any effort into the relationship.
Nina’s decisiveness had been a breath of fresh air and one of the things he’d loved about her right away.
The bloom was off that rose, however.
“I’m not the same person I was then.”
She smiled. “Neither of us are. Thankfully. Now I promise all you need is a good night’s sleep, and in the morning, you’ll see things much more clearly. This infatuation with the fish girl is just a…blip on the radar of life. A passing fancy. You’ll see.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” Her smile had a coy undertone. “I bet you’ll find she’s cooled off toward you tomorrow. Because after a night of thinking of it over, she’s going to realize just how much work it is being involved with a man like you. How much sacrifice it requires.” Nina shook her head slowly. “Not a lot of women are up for that kind of effort. Or being scrutinized by social media.”
Was that true? He backed away, suddenly giving serious thought to what she’d said. He didn’t believe her. But she’d still managed to open a crack of doubt in his confidence. He needed to get away from her. Really away.
Out of the house.
She poured herself a glass of wine. “I’m going upstairs to take a bath, and then I’m going to bed to read.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond, just took her wine and left.
As soon as she was gone and he heard the bedroom door shut, he grabbed his keys and went out the front door. He started driving without knowing where he was going, but he ended up heading toward town. He wasn’t sure that was where he wanted to be, but where else was he going to go?
He parked, pulled on a ball cap, and walked, drifting through the crowds of tourists, who paid no attention to him. The dark gave him a little cover, as did the hat.
Several minutes in and he found himself at a park in the center of town. It had a big gargoyle fountain. People were throwing coins in and making wishes and asking the gargoyle questions, which the creature answered.
Ethan smiled. That was pretty clever. The animatronics looked remarkably lifelike. And the answers never repeated either. Whoever was behind this bit of entertainment had done an outstanding job.
He sat for a while, watching people, but the number of couples that went by made it impossible for his thoughts not to return to Nina.
How dare she tell him they weren’t breaking up? That wasn’t for her to decide. It was over, and she needed to move out. And on. Granted, they’d just moved into that house. He’d have to give her some time to find a new place. That wasn’t an issue. He’d be happy to do that.
He had more money than she did, so he’d move out while she looked for a place. In fact, maybe he’d do that tomorrow. Provided he could find a place that would take Bowie.
He couldn’t go back to the New York apartment because it was being painted. And the place in L.A. no longer held much appeal. Maybe he’d buy something else.
But then, why should he be the one to leave this town? He suddenly felt the need to stay in Nocturne Falls. And why not? After all, Undrea was here.
He smiled. Then the smile vanished. He’d have to tell Undrea what was going on. Bring her up to speed. For one thing, now was not the time to be installing an enormous fish tank.
He looked at the time. It wasn’t that late. After all, he’d promised not to be that needy customer at 3 a.m. He took his phone out and sent her a quick text. Sorry for this, but I need to put the fish tank on hold for now.
He set his phone on the bench beside him and went back to watching the gargoyle. The smell of caramel corn drifted past, making him realize he hadn’t eaten any dinner. Well, there were a lot of places to choose from. He tried to remember the two other restaurants Undrea and Aaron had mentioned.
His phone vibrated with an incoming message. He picked it up and read Undrea’s response. I’m sorry to hear that but I understand. Is this because of the talk with Nina?
A moment later, another text from her arrived. Ignore that. Not my business.
He smiled. Yes, it is because of that. He hit send, then started typing again. Any chance you could meet me for dinner? Or a drink? Or coffee?
I could definitely meet you for dinner. Where?
I’m sitting in the park. Where the gargoyle is. What’s close?
Mummy’s Diner. I can be there in fifteen minutes or so. You need directions?
I’ll find it. He couldn’t stop smiling. See you there.
Undrea drained the tub. She’d been searching the term rare witch on her laptop and the water had cooled off anyway. She’d soak later. Her food had cooled too, so she put the entire bag from Thai Garden into the fridge for tomorrow’s dinner. Or breakfast. Whatever, it would get eaten.
But after Nina’s surprise visit, there was no way Undrea was missing a chance to see Ethan. It was like she was morally obligated to go just to prove to Nina how unafraid of her rare witch self she was.
Rare witch. Undrea snorted. Witch, please.
She changed into skinny jeans, a gray striped V-neck sweater, some dangly earrings, and silver flats. Then she added some extra makeup. Nothing crazy, just a swoop of eyeliner, another coat of mascara and some plum lip gloss. She finger-combed her hair and scrunched it a little with wet hands to revive the curls, which was all her hair ever really needed, then grabbed her purse and jumped in her car.
It took her a couple of minutes longer than expected to get to Mummy’s because town was busy. She wasn’t sure why. Just tourists, she supposed. But then she didn’t often come to town in the evenings, so maybe it was always like this?
Parking took another minute, and by the time she was headed into Mummy’s, she was five minutes late. She didn’t like that, but it couldn’t be helped.
Ethan already had a booth. He waved at her, smiling.
She joined him, sliding into the empty side. “Hiya.”
“Hiya yourself. You look nice.”
“Thanks. Sorry I’m late. I didn’t realize there’d be so much traffic.”
“No problem. I had to wait a few minutes for the booth anyway. I just got seated.” He glanced at his menu. “You’ve eaten here, right?”
“Many times. It’s all pretty good.”
“Great, because I’m starving.”
She smiled. “So am I. To be honest, I was just about to eat when you called, but your offer was better.”
He looked up. “Yeah? I feel honored.”
She shrugged. “I had to come.” Should she tell him about Nina? She kind of had to, didn’t she?
“You had to?” He pushed his glasses back. “Because I canceled the tank and you want to talk me out of that?”
“What?” She laughed and shook her head. “No. Because Nina showed up at my house tonight, and you should probably know what kind of crazy you’re getting rid of.”
All humor left his face. “She what?”
Undrea nodded. “Not sure how she found my house, but then it’s probably not that hard to do with Google and whatnot. But yeah. She basically told me to stay away from you or else, and I don’t take well to those sorts of threats, so how could I not show up? To be honest, I still hate social media, but I’ve never wanted to post a selfie with you so bad as I do right now.”