The Three-Week Arrangement (Chase Brothers) Read Online Free PDF

He knew love. He didn’t have to wonder if, or when, he’d ever experience it. Or what it was like to love someone so much that she became a part of your being. He thought, even though he’d lost Amy, that he’d been the lucky one. Lucky becausehe’d known her. Lucky because they’d had everything.
    Now, watching Kelsie and Estelle laughing with his brothers, he just felt empty. But what really killed him was the absolute joy radiating from his mother. He realized now that he’d gotten so used to the worry etched on her face that he’d stopped noticing it, and he felt terrible taking that hope away from her. For being the reason she’dworried for so long.
    Thoughtful, he stepped away from the group. Halfway down the hallway to the rear of his parents’ house, a photo of him and Amy hung. He paused there.
    “I don’t reckon Boyd Von Adler is going to be thrilled with you. Your mom says he’s had his sights on Rue Campbell for a long time.” Russell spoke quietly.
    Ethan hadn’t realized his father had followed him.“I can’t say I care,” he said, his gaze still on the picture. He and Amy had raked his mom’s yard that day, most of the effort undone when things had spiraled into a leaf fight. In the photo, she was laughing and tangled in his arms. Alive. “I’ve never met the guy,” he said of Boyd Von What’s-his-face, “but from what I’ve heard, he’ll be hard-pressed to earn my respect.”
    After a long pause,his father said, “Your mother is just so relieved. We all are.”
    “Rue and I are just friends.” Were they even that? Granted, she’d seen him in his underwear, but Sawyer had lived entire years where getting to that step didn’t require an exchange of first names. But no more. Sawyer had fallen hard.
    Still, none of them had hit bottom like Ethan.
    His dad clasped his shoulder. “Youhave to start somewhere. The point is, you’ve taken that first step.”
    Ethan didn’t say much during dinner, and fortunately, he didn’t have to. The conversation went on just fine without him. That had been the case for years, he realized, and while they hadn’t exactly tiptoed around him, his silence wasn’t enough to raise eyebrows.
    Leaving early, however, apparently was. When he excusedhimself before dessert, he didn’t miss the warning glance from his mother that kept the rest of the group in check. How long had they tiptoed around him? He pushed away the thought. “Save me a piece of pie, okay?”
    “Hot date?” Liam asked.
    So much for silence. “I need to catch up with someone before it gets too late.”
    Crosby blinked. “It’s four o’clock.”
    “Never mind that,”his mom said. “The pie will be waiting for you in the office fridge in the morning.”
    Ethan nodded his thanks then slipped out, knowing full well his name would probably occupy their conversation even after everyone split and went their own ways. It had likely been that way for a while, and that possibility made him feel so very alone.
    Thirty minutes later, he was standing at Rue’sdoor. The Mustang sat in the drive. He gave it a wide berth, lest the woman next door have her nozzle handy. Once on the porch, he hit the buzzer and stood there, feeling more than a little bit awkward after the way he’d left. He wasn’t sure if Rue even wanted to see him, but he figured he owed her an explanation.
    The door swung open. Rue still wore the clingy, form-fitting dress. Not typicalSunday afternoon attire. Most of the women he knew wore yoga pants on their down time, but not this one. She managed to look utterly comfortable in clothing that couldn’t be, and she stunned without an obvious trace of makeup. Except her lips. They were too pink, too perfect to possibly be a natural shade. Her blue eyes widened. “Ethan!”
    “I needed to apologize,” he said.
    She’d alreadystepped back, inviting him in even as she argued with him. “No, you don’t. I shouldn’t have dropped your name, especially after you said