“I'm sorry, Laura,” he said after a moment. “I'm fine. My plane is fine. It wasn't me. Everything is fine.”
“I know that now,” she said. She paused. There was something in his tone that felt off. “Are you sure everything is fine? You sound... different.”
He sighed. “Can we meet? I should talk to you about something.”
His words made her heart sink. Those were never good words to hear from the person you were dating. They were actually the words she wanted to say to him.
“The kids are home,” she said. “I can't go anywhere, but you're welcome to come here.”
“I'll be there in fifteen minutes,” he told her, and then he hung up.
Laura stared at her phone and felt the tears well up in her eyes. This felt like the beginning of the end. This wasn't going to end with rainbows and sunshine. No one was going to end up happy after they had the conversation that was coming. They would hurt, but hopefully, it would be a quick pain instead of an unsurvivable one.
Was she going to do the right thing? She wasn't sure. Then, she wiped her cheeks and thought of the fear that had just gripped her heart for the past twenty minutes. She thought of the terror she'd just experienced thinking he was gone. She couldn't do that anymore.
It was going to hurt. But, maybe it should hurt now so that there could be rainbows and sunshine later.
Chapter 34
Ethan
Ethan let out a long slow breath as the car pulled out onto the highway. He was doing his best not to be angry, but it was hard. It was hard not to be frustrated when she messaged him so constantly. Laura was so amazing in every other way, but her fear of him flying was the one thing that he did not enjoy about her.
He stared out the window, watching the mountains to the west rise and dip into the horizon. He knew that he would have texted her too if their positions had been reversed and he'd seen the news on the missing plane. It was just that there were so many messages. He had so many issues on his plate between the R&D department problems and now Janie stalking him and sending him death threats. Getting a million messages telling him to call her was not helpful.
He pulled up his phone and checked the news. The other plane was a small personal aircraft, not nearly as nice as his was, but he could see how she would be worried. Luckily, the other plane had landed without injuries. It just had serious electrical issues and had shorted out several systems, making them late and difficult to communicate with.
He closed his phone and leaned back against the car seat. She was going to be upset and worked up because of this. He needed to tell her that it wasn't safe to be around him right now because of Janie. He didn't know what Janie would do if he saw the two of them together now. She could get seriously hurt because of him, and he would never forgive himself if she did.
The muscle in his jaw tightened. What about the kids? He could easily see Janie targeting Dallas and Ivy because they were Laura's. Janie wanted to hurt him, and right now, the easiest way to do that was through Laura. Janie had already disrupted his relationship with her once already. What would she do now that they really were together?
He didn't like thinking about it.
How was he going to keep Laura and the kids safe? What would he do if anything happened to them? He felt responsible now, and it was a lot of commitment. He needed to step back. He needed to slow down so they wouldn't get hurt.
“Take a right here,” he said to one of his new security guards. Pete and Joe were a lot less chatty than Craig, but they seemed good at their jobs, so Ethan didn't mind. He hoped Craig was enjoying some time off while Pete and Joe drove him around. “It's the little townhouse on the left.”
The car pulled to a stop on the street outside her home. He looked out at it. It was just a small townhouse squished between two others. There were two small aspen trees growing in the front yard, framing the view of the mountains. It was quiet and safe, but with Janie on the loose, he wasn't sure just how safe it was anymore. He didn't want to tell her this, but it had to be done.
“Wait here,” he instructed the two guards as he opened the door and stepped out.
“Sir?” Pete asked, unbuckling his seat belt to follow.
“I'll be right at the door.” Ethan motioned toward Laura's house. “If I go inside, you may come in. Until then, just wait in the car.”
“Sir, I don't think that's the best idea,” Pete replied.
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Are you really worried someone is going jump out from behind the tree and get me?” He motioned to the tree. A cat couldn't hide in the tree without being seen.
Pete sat back down. “We'll wait here for you, sir.”
“Thank you,” Ethan replied, turning away and walking up to her front door. Each step felt heavier than the last. He was freaking exhausted, and all he wanted to do was go to his hotel and sleep for a week, but he needed to talk to her. She didn't sound right on the phone. The closer he got to the door, the worse he felt about what was going to happen next.
He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before he could make any noise. Laura held a finger up to her lips.
“I'll be right outside guys,” she said. He could see Ivy and Dallas watching a movie. They were mesmerized and barely responded that they'd heard her. She stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.
She wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy like she'd been crying. Guilt pulled at him.