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I park behind Ethan’s blue Tesla, surprised to see a red convertible Beetle parked next to it—in my spot.

Blake’s comment about Charlotte wanting a new car takes on a whole new meaning. I’d thought that he’d been guessing, but maybe he meant it literally. Great. It’s another reminder that Blake is closer to Ethan than he is to me. And it’s definitely time to give up any fantasy that anything could actually happen between us.

He never answered my text message last night. And now that I know about the fight, I’m wondering if he thinks he made a mistake. He promised that we weren’t done, but maybe he’s changed his mind.

I absentmindedly check my cell phone before walking up the driveway to Ethan’s house.

To say that I’m conflicted about seeing Ethan is an understatement. Somehow, I’m managing to feel both proud to show him that I’m still desirable too and ashamed that I chose his best friend, and sad that even after all that, I’m still alone and confused about why Blake and Ethan felt the need to fist fight in the first place.

Basically, I’m all over the place. But that’s been the pattern with me lately.

I ring my own doorbell, which is a whole other can of worms. Ethan opens the door. His right eye is swollen and purple. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand, but it doesn’t hide the small laugh that just comes out of me.

Ethan glares, which makes him wince, and I just laugh harder.

“You think this is funny?”

I try to swallow my next giggle. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re proud of yourself, huh? You think you’re getting back at me? It wasn’t enough that you took the agency, you needed to humiliate me too?”

That sobers me up fast.

“The agency is mine in exchange for the house. And what you did is so much worse! You cheated on me.”

Ethan shakes his head. “Maybe. But the difference between us is that I’m not doing these things to hurt you. I’m trying to better my life. You’re just wasting your time taking shots at me.”

I open and close my mouth. Is he right? Not about the agency. But about Blake. I don’t know, but I also don’t want to argue with him anymore.

“I’m here for the computer in my home office. And believe me or not, I want it because I want it, and not to hurt you.”

Ethan moves out of the way to let me pass. “Take whatever you want. I’m done. Just put aside anything you can’t carry today, and I’ll deliver it later. But that’s it. After today, the rest is mine, and we’re done.”

“Fine.”

I start with the office and go through every room in the house, making sure that I don’t miss any personal items that I can’t bear to leave behind. I try as much as I can to ignore Charlotte looking over my shoulder everywhere I go. Every ounce of my body just wants to get out of there as fast as possible. But Ethan is right, I don’t want to drag this out. If I finish today, then I never have to come back. I put it all in the front entrance and load my car with half of it.

I park in the big parking lot when it finally hits me that I really don’t have anywhere to put this stuff. I send Stewart a message asking him when we can have that chat about my finances. Then I unload everything into a corner of the apartment. It takes up a quarter of the room, but I really don’t have anywhere else.

Chapter Nineteen

Scarlett

“It’s a nice day today,” I say, grabbing a white, a red, and a yellow pill and dropping them into the little box labeled Friday. “Do you want to go for a walk with me?”

Martha doesn’t look away from the TV screen as she answers. “Not today.”

She always answers Not today, no matter what I ask her to do. Martha hasn’t gone out of the house since Wyatt’s death and no amount of coaxing from Henry or me has ever worked. She’s simply given up. And it’s heartbreaking to watch. Especially since I know that it would break Wyatt’s heart to know that his death destroyed his mother’s life. He would want her to get back on her feet. But the more time passes the less likely it becomes. We thought it was a phase at first, but it’s been eight years now.

Not that I’m much better. I’m functional because I had to be for Penny, but I can’t say I’ve done much to move on either. No matter how much I tell myself that Wyatt would want me to be happy, that he wouldn’t want me to be lonely, all thoughts of being with another man bring with them a pile of guilt.

I finish sorting Martha’s pills for the rest of the week and get up from the table to stretch my back. Henry had some business in town today, so I volunteered to spend time with her. But it really is a beautiful, sunny day. I pull back the curtain. Blake, Brody, and Luke’s cars are parked in the field beyond Henry and Martha’s property line.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Wilson brothers at their old house. Something must be going on.

I leave Martha to her TV show, grab my jean jacket off the back of my chair, and head outside.

The three brothers are standing in front of the farmhouse with Luke.