Chapter 54

• Ethan’s [POV]
• "Are you alone? I had hoped you would bring a date." My Mother peered around me as if she expected someone else to be standing on the front porch beside me.
• I bit my tongue and refused to make the retort that was burning the inside of my mouth. If my father hadn't been standing beside her, I would have said it: “No, Mother; having dates over has always been your thing, not mine.” But the cruel reminder of her many infidelities would have hurt my Dad too much, and she had already done that enough. I never understood why he took her back after she abandoned us, but I wanted to support him in any decisions he made, so even after all these years, I kept silent.