Saved by Love (Willow Valley Book 3)(12)

Maybe he was worried for nothing. Really, who was he to presume what Abby did and didn't want?

After a quick shower, he put on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, ran his hands through his hair just enough so that it wasn't sticking up everywhere, and headed out of the firehouse. It wasn't far from the town square where his apartment was, so he typically walked. Today he wished he'd driven so he could get home faster.

Passing by Cassie Martin's bakery as he made his way across the square, he was stopped by a hand reaching out to grab his arm. Startled, he looked down, only to wish he hadn't.

Marissa. His ex.

It wasn't like he never expected to see her, considering they lived in the same town, but they typically avoided each other. Now, as she sat at one of the bistro tables outside the bakery, he wondered why she chose this moment to change that unspoken agreement.

"Marissa," he sighed. "Hey. I didn't see you there."

She frowned at him. "I only said your name about three times."

"Sorry, my head is somewhere else."

Letting go of his arm, she sat back and crossed hers. "Hmm. Maybe on someone you mean?"

He didn't have time for this. "Marissa, what are you getting at? Is there a reason you stopped me and wanted to talk to me?"

"I heard about it you know. About you and that new girl."

"I don't know what you heard, but there—"

"Did you have to be so blatant about it, Ethan? Putting on a display for the whole town to see?"

Now he was angry. "Look, there was no display. I was out with another woman. I'm sorry, Marissa, but there's no reason that it's any of your business."

"That's not what I heard."

This was getting more high school by the moment, and he'd had enough. "Like I said, I don't see how it's any of your business. We aren't together anymore. And we both know why."

Marissa looked like she'd been slapped, and Ethan instantly regretted the harsh words. They did both know why, and he was sure it was just as painful for both of them to think about it.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Come here. I'm sorry," he repeated. He pulled Marissa from her chair and tried to give her a comforting hug, but as she clung to him, he felt more awkward than anything. He had cared for her once. Maybe not love, but she had meant something to him.

She started to cry. "Ethan, I miss you. I know it was hard, what happened. Losing our baby. But I think we gave up on us too soon." It was as if she'd taken a knife and twisted it deep inside an old festering wound.

"Marissa," he ground out. "Don't." He tried not to think about it often, but it was always there in the back of his mind. How he was the one responsible for the miscarriage. It had destroyed what was left of their relationship and left him unwilling to commit to another.

"Please, Ethan. Give us another chance." She placed a hand on each side of his face and looked into his eyes. He looked at her, trying to remember how he'd once felt about her, but all he felt now was pity.

He reached up to grab her wrists and was about to pull them away and apologize for hurting her yet again, but her gaze shifted from his to a spot behind him and he saw something strange pass across her face. What was that look?

He turned around and froze.

Abby stood there outside Cassie's Confections looking back and forth between the two of them. When she met his eyes, she gave him a tight-lipped smile and a curt nod, then pulled on the door handle and disappeared inside.

His gut clenched. No telling what she thought when she saw the two of them standing there like that. When he looked back at Marissa, he recognized that look for what it was. Triumph. She was actually trying to set him up to look like a jerk in front of Abby?

He pushed her hands away in disgust. "I can't believe you. You did that on purpose?"

Marissa shrugged. "She's not right for you, Ethan."

"Well you certainly aren't. I can't believe you would use the baby as an excuse to hurt me," he hissed.

Her eyes hardened. "Maybe that's what you deserve. It's your fault, you know."

Yeah, he knew. But hearing her say it was like a sucker punch.

Without a word, he turned and strode away, wanting nothing more than the sanctuary of his apartment. The guilt of his past was never far away, but he thought he'd mostly come to terms with it.

Safe inside where no one could see him, he sank down onto the couch and let the guilt wash over him. How many times had he berated himself for taking Marissa out on the mountain that day? If he hadn't insisted that she ride with him on the snowmobile, the accident may never have happened. He hadn't even known she was pregnant.

It had been enough to convince him that his lifestyle was just too risky. Too dangerous. He had no business being involved with someone that would be devastated if something happened to him. Hell, even going to work on a normal day was a hazard. There was no guarantee he would come home from an emergency call to a fire.

So he'd given up the idea of a relationship with anyone. From then on he’d been as much about the good times as Braden.

Until Abby walked into his life. As much as he may have tried to convince himself that what Braden said was true, he knew deep down that Abby was an all-in kind of woman.

So where did that leave him now? Because in spite of everything, including what had just gone down with Marissa, he still couldn't walk away from the idea of seeing what was there between him and Abby.