Page 32 of Playing for Keeps

I realized Ethan had talked only about his job and Theo, and hadn’t mentioned anything else more personal.

“How’s your mum?” I asked.

Ethan frowned. “Her MS is still progressing, so she’s pretty immobile now. She’s got a full-time carer with her.”

“You see much of her?”

“A bit.” He shrugged. “I invite her along to Theo’s stuff, but it’s hit and miss whether she shows or not. Mind you, it’s not like she turned up to lots of my stuff when I was a kid, right?”

I had to struggle to keep down the anger that always flared when I thought about Ethan’s mum. Mother of the Year candidate she was not.

“And no girlfriends?” I tried to keep my voice casual.

Ethan bit his lip. Shit. Did he feel awkward talking to me about this?

I’d never gotten a handle on the exact nature of Ethan and Char’s relationship. They’d lived together for about a year after Theo was born. But I had no idea what their relationship had been like, why they’d gone their separate ways.

It wasn’t something I wanted to dwell on.

There didn’t seem to be any animosity between them though, which was good for Theo.

Ethan scratched at his hand. “Nah, just concentrating on Theo. Haven’t really done the relationship thing for a while now.”

“Right.”

We struck turbulence at that moment, the nor’wester sweeping over the alps and treating the plane like a fun object to play with. On the upside, it moved us past the awkward moment.

It was nice when we finally got our feet back on solid ground.

Ethan and I collected our bags and headed out to the carpark together.

When we reached my car, Ethan scuffed his foot along the asphalt before looking up at me. “So, I’ll see you round, right?”

“There’s a small chance you might see me again in the future, yes.”

Ethan grinned then, that favorite smile that transformed his entire face, before he headed toward his car.

This was too familiar. This itchy, unsatisfied feeling I got when Ethan walked away from me.

I climbed into my own car and drove home. Our new apartment was in Merivale, a leafy suburb of Christchurch, close to the massive Hagley Park and the city center. It was near my parents in Fendalton, and Char wasn’t too far away in Papanui. From what he’d told me, I knew Ethan lived in Papanui too so that he and Char could make things easier for Theo.

Shit. Stop thinking about Ethan.

I hauled my mind back to the apartment. Our stuff that we’d shipped back had arrived a week ago, and we’d managed to unpack less than half the boxes before I had to leave for training camp. I felt bad that Jonathan had been lumped with unpacking the rest. But then, he was better on the domestic front than I was.

I turned my key in the lock.

Jonathan came out into the hallway. “You’re home.”

“That’s some amazing observational powers you’ve got going on,” I said with a smile.

Jonathan’s brow furrowed.

Shit. I was still in talking-to-Ethan mode.

I blinked and that itchy, restless feeling reemerged.

Jonathan tilted his head. “So, how did it go?”