My Replacement Husband

My Replacement Husband (13) Pudding Talks

  This chapter is dedicated to the fantastic: trina1010 <3

 THERE WERE A MILLION SCENARIOS RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD.

I pulled Ethan aside. "Could we talk?" I whispered.

I wanted to clear things up before anything got out of hand. Ethan was far from the jealous type, but I didn't want him to think I was the kind of girl to run back to her ex-boyfriend a month after our break up. Ethan had the right to know what was going on.

Ethan glanced over at Evan and Caroline. "I'm on shift."

"When do you finish?" I asked.

His lack of response caused my stomach to knot.

Maybe he was so upset he didn't want to talk to me. "In four hours."

Something about his tone made me feel funny. "I'll wait then."

"Why?" he asked plainly. Ethan wasn't looking at me. "You don't owe me an explanation, Julie. You don't owe me anything. So, don't trouble yourself. I'm sure you have a reason."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had hurt him.

Apologizing felt strange and explaining myself right now felt even stranger. What happened to us? We could have been happily engaged. I would be visiting him to say hello instead of avoiding him. Things would be different between us.

"I didn't hear you say you didn't want me to wait," I said quietly. "So, I'll see you when you're done. Five minutes."

Ethan didn't say anything, but I took it as a yes.

"See you then," I murmured before heading over to Evan.

I had come here to comfort Evan. I had lost sight of that, but now was not the time to have a long-winded talk with Ethan. As much as I wanted to burst with explanations about how Evan and I were co-workers now and there was nothing between us, I had a promise to fulfill first. I had to be there for Evan.

Ethan left shortly the room after I reached Caroline's side. "Who's this chickadee?" she asked, her eyes kind and inquisitive. She was pretty in a soft, hazy way. The same raised eyebrows and milky brown hair as Evan.

"She's Julie. We work together," Evan answered. "We were in the middle of dinner when I go the call. What happened?"

Caroline ignored his question and smiled at me instead. "Julie? Julie Carson, that Julie?"

I laughed nervously. "The one and only, as far as I know."

How did she know who I was? Had Evan told her about me?

"You never forget your brother's first love," she quipped. "Actually, that sounds weird. Scratch that. Sorry, you must be freaked out especially since we've never met before."

First love. It was strange to hear myself being called someone's first.

I hadn't heard that phrase in reference to myself in a long time.

I side-eyed Evan. "I'm just curious about how you know of me and maybe how much you know of me."

"It's nothing really," Evan butted in. "I mentioned you once or twice while we were dating forever ago. Then I brought up that we were working together again."

"Weird, isn't it?" she asked mirthfully. "It's like fate brought you guys back together. Maybe the universe wants you to have a second chance, you know? Like me and David," she said as she rubbed the small, barely-noticeable bump in her belly.

"Ro, stop. It's just coincidences," Evan asserted.

I didn't believe in fate or any cosmic being called 'the universe' but I believed in God. I definitely believe things happen for a reason and more importantly for a purpose, but I wouldn't out-right say it was to give Evan and me a second chance. It was more like a second chance to bury the hatchet if either of us had any lingering issues—namely mine with avoiding the past—and whatever Evan wanted to bring up along with working together on his book.