Chapter Nine

ETHAN

I get up early to see Lara off, hoping against hope that Riley will stay asleep. I’d decided the night before that I needed to get myself and my daughter out from under Nathan’s roof as quickly as possible after my sister-in-law leaves. It’s clear to me that in spite of his insistence that Riley and I stay for a few days, Nathan’s still no fan of me.

“Are you seriously putting together a full breakfast for everyone?”

Lara looks up from the stove and gives me a weak smile. Her father isn’t even awake yet.

“I figured that would make everything easier,” she says with a shrug. She frowns slightly. “What are you doing up?”

“I think I’m going to head out a few hours after you leave,” I say.

Lara thinks about this for a moment and then nods. “That makes sense,” she says.

“You’re sure that you’re really okay with this,” I say, almost making it a question. There’s so much that’s gone unspoken between the two of us for the past few days, and I don’t even know how to get on the right topic. I don’t even know how to feel about the woman currently standing in my father-in-law’s kitchen stir