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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

PAIGE: Please tell me you’re ignoring the continuous bullshit I keep finding that asinine sports publication.

ETTA: That’s a big word for you before noon.

PAIGE: eye roll emoji

PAIGE: Has Ford seen it? Is he with you?

ETTA: He has and no, he left a few hours ago with the team.

PAIGE: Shit.

PAIGE: Are you okay?

PAIGE: Do you need me to come over?

PAIGE: How did operation third date go?

ETTA: Yes, I’m okay.

ETTA: No, I don’t need you to come over.

ETTA: Operation third date was the most amazing part of the last twenty-four hours.

PAIGE: Like big dick amazing?

ETTA: The biggest.

PAIGE: Why do I get the feeling there’s more to the story

ETTA: Because there is.

PAIGE: .........

PAIGE: Don’t keep a girl waiting.

ETTA: Sorry, I just needed to respond to Ford. They landed in Detroit.

PAIGE: Go on

ETTA: My parents saw the article with the picture of me and called Ford this morning.

PAIGE: They called him?!

ETTA: Apparently he was in contact with them the entire time I was “missing.”

PAIGE: Are we mad about this?

ETTA: Yes. No. I don’t know.

ETTA: He didn’t tell me about it. But I also asked him not to bring them up and that I wasn’t ready to talk to them.

PAIGE: So basically you want to be angry at him for the omission but also he did exactly what you asked.

ETTA: That.

PAIGE: Does this change the way you feel about him?

ETTA: Not at all. If anything it makes me love him more.

PAIGE: YOU LOVE HIM?!

PAIGE: Do I get to say I told you so now?

ETTA: eye roll emoji

ETTA: Yes, oh wise love doctor. You were right. There was something there that wasn’t there before.

PAIGE: You get extra points because Belle is my spirit princess.

ETTA: More like Stitch, but I guess I can see it.

PAIGE: So what’s the problem then?

ETTA: I called my parents.

PAIGE: How did that go?

ETTA: Better than expected in some ways. Worse in others.

ETTA: My mother is every bit the overbearing helicopter parent I remember her being. And now that she knows I’m okay, she’s angry with me. But I can’t blame her. They thought I was dead.

PAIGE: Oof.

ETTA: Understatement of the year.

PAIGE: What did they say about the article?

ETTA: They aren’t thrilled about the idea of me and Ford. But once I told them about life with Tyler, they were a little more understanding.

PAIGE: I’m proud of you for telling them.

ETTA: They want me to move home so they can spend time with me and so I can take over the family restaurant.

PAIGE: Sounds a little selfish to me, but I might be an asshole about it because I too am selfish and want you to stay right where you are.

PAIGE: You are aware California is on the other side of the country?

ETTA: Thanks, captain obvious. I had no clue.

PAIGE: Do you want to go home?

ETTA: If you had asked me fifteen years ago, I’d tell you running the family restaurant was my dream.

PAIGE: And now?

ETTA: I don’t know.

ETTA: This is my home with a make shift family I didn’t know I needed. But they are my actual family, and I feel like I owe them at least a little after disappearing.

PAIGE: I agree. But that doesn’t mean they get to dictate your life.

ETTA: I think I need to go to California.

PAIGE: For good?

ETTA: I don’t think so. You’re right. They don’t get to decide my future. But I do need to see them. And maybe decide if California is also something I need.

PAIGE: Do you want me to go with you?

ETTA: No, but could you watch Lodhi while Ford is gone?

PAIGE: You got it.