How I Learned to Love the Walrus

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How I Learned to Love the Walrus Page 30

by Beth Orsoff


  "What did lover boy want this time?"

  "Do you really want to spend our last night together talking about Blake?" I sure as hell didn’t. This could be my last opportunity to have sex for who knew how long. Before Blake I’d gone almost a year. I laid down next to Ethan and began tracing the scar on his abdomen with my fingertip, my obsession these past two days.

  "Why didn’t you tell him it was me?" he said as he pushed my hand away.

  "I did tell him," I said as patiently as I could, "when I went into the bathroom."

  "What did he say?"

  "Jesus Christ, Ethan, who cares? I’m starting to think the only reason you even asked me to stay was to prove something to Blake. He’s the young, handsome movie star, but you got the girl, so somehow that means you won."

  He finally shut the magazine. "You do not think that."

  "Yeah, Ethan," I said, turning my back on him, "sometimes I do." Not often, but at moments like these.

  That’s when he snuggled up behind me and started rubbing my shoulders, before moving his hands down my back and below my waist. He waited until he felt me respond before he pulled me around to face him. "You know that’s not the reason I asked you to stay. Lover boy has nothing to do with this."

  "Are you sure?" I asked, even as he slid his hand between my legs.

  "Definitely," he said, pulling me on top of him.

  "Then just so we’re clear," I said, as I unbuttoned the teddy I’d purchased at the Victoria’s Secret across the street. "You’re only with me for the sex. Blake has nothing to do with it."

  "Not only the sex," he said, as he lifted the silk camisole over my head. "Although I’m certainly enjoying that too."

  "Oh right. It’s not about the sex. You really love me for my mind."

  We both froze. I never meant to utter the forbidden L-word, but it slipped out and I couldn’t take it back. Neither one of us was smiling anymore, but Ethan was the first to speak.

  "What if I did?"

  Epilogue

  "Happily ever after? With Ethan? Are you fucking kidding me?"

  "You’re in denial," Nicole said, then took another bite of her omelet.

  Ethan usually joined us for our Sunday brunches, at least the weekends he was in town. This morning he’d begged off to have breakfast with a friend, a former colleague from North Carolina who’d recently moved to L.A.

  "You’re in love with him," Nicole announced.

  "In love with him! Need I remind you the man has enough emotional baggage to fill an eighteen wheeler, he’s twelve years older than me, drinks too much, and lives a thousand miles away."

  "Yes, but the good news is he’s crazy about you too."

  I passed on Nicole’s offer of a post-brunch movie because I wanted to get home before Ethan. Although it really wasn’t necessary since I’d already given him a key. I didn’t see it so much as a sign of commitment as a practical necessity. We’d been dating for six months—every other weekend he’d fly down to L.A. or I’d fly up to Seattle—and sometimes we’d arrive before the other got home. It wasn’t a perfect arrangement but I thought it was going pretty well until one day Ethan decided I needed to move up to Washington. I refused, of course, and Nicole backed me up on that even though she usually sided with Ethan on everything. She may have been my best friend, but she was Ethan’s biggest fan.

  No matter how many times I explained that I needed to stay in L.A. since that was where all of my clients lived, Ethan refused to believe me. And every time I suggested he move closer to me, he’d remind me that he was a tenured professor at a major university and couldn’t relocate on a whim just because I wanted him to. Lately every time he mentioned it I’d change the subject. Otherwise we’d end up in a huge fight and the entire weekend would be ruined.

  I was working on a proposal for a new client—she wanted to set up a foundation to stop abandoned pets from being euthanized—when Ethan returned.

  "How was your breakfast?" I asked, barely glancing up from my laptop.

  "Productive."

  Since it wasn’t the answer I was expecting, I stopped typing and turned around.

  "I wasn’t really having breakfast with a friend," Ethan said, joining me on the couch.

  "Then what were you doing?" I asked, bracing myself for I didn’t know what.

  He rubbed his hand across his three-day beard. "Call it an informal interview. Patti set it up."

  "Interview for what?"

  "A teaching position at UCLA. They’re looking for a visiting professor for the fall quarter."

  "Isn’t that a temporary gig?" Not that it wouldn’t be nice to have a few months off from the biweekly commute. The airfare was getting outrageously expensive. Ethan usually paid, but I still felt awkward about it.

  "Not always. Often they’re trial runs. If it works out they offer you a permanent position." He glanced around my combination living room/bedroom/office. "I thought we could rent a bigger apartment together, closer to campus."

  "Um. Yeah. Maybe."

  "Maybe?" he said, his voice rising at least an octave. "I thought this is what you wanted."

  "It is," I answered honestly. Although I’m not sure I believed it would happen, or at least not so soon. "It’s a little sudden, don’t you think?"

  "Sudden? Sydney, we’ve been talking about this for months."

  "I know. But moving in together . . . . Ethan, that’s a huge step."

  "So you thought I’d uproot my entire life for you, but we’d still live in separate apartments?"

  "I didn’t—"

  "Enough, Sydney." He jumped up from the couch. "Enough. I’m too old to play these games." He stopped pacing and turned around. "Tell me the truth. Do you love me or not?"

  "Ethan, it’s not that simple."

  "Yeah, Sydney, it is."

  He stared at me until I gave him an answer.

  "Yes, I love you. Happy now?" If the smile on his face was any indication, he appeared to be. "But, Ethan, you drive me crazy!"

  The smile widened. "Of course I do, Sydney. What do you think love is?"

  # # #

  Note to Readers:

  We hope you enjoyed this book. If you would like more information about the author or her other books, please visit her website at http://www.bethorsoff.com.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

/>   Chapter 64

 

 

 


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