Double Exposure by Susan Sleeman

Author:Susan Sleeman [Sleeman, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9781488084355
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Published: 2012-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Derrick left for his shift on Madeline’s detail, and Ethan watched Jennie run up the stairs. He’d always wanted her to share her past with him, and now that she had, he didn’t know what to do. She was right. He did feel badly for her. How could he not? No child deserved a life like that. But it was precisely that life that had given her the passion to help others and made her the special person she was today.

Cole came up beside him. “I guess this thing with Jennie isn’t over.”

Ethan looked at his brother and wanted to tell him to mind his own business, but maybe if they discussed this, Cole could help him work though the problem.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Ethan asked.

Cole was clearly surprised but he nodded.

“Let’s get something to drink.” Ethan went to the kitchen. He handed Cole his usual cola and took a bottle of water for himself.

He climbed onto a stool at the counter. “You ever want something that’s really bad for you?”

Cole raised a discerning eyebrow. “You mean recently?”

“I’m not talking about kid stuff here.” Ethan knew his tone was defensive.

“You’re talking about Jennie.”

“Yeah.”

“From all I can see, the two of you are adults, not involved with someone else, so why is she so wrong?”

“I’ve had enough of women saying they want a relationship then bailing when things get serious.”

“You’re talking about Carla.”

“Jennie and Carla both took off. Maybe Jennie’s like Carla and I’m just attracted to the kind of woman who can’t commit.”

“She is nothing like Carla.” He shot Ethan an impatient look.

Ethan studied his brother, who rarely weighed in on issues lately. To do so meant he had strong opinions on Carla.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Cole said. “I never thought Carla was the right person for you.”

“And yet you never told me.”

“Would you have listened if I had?”

Would he? Or would he have done just what he wanted, ignoring help from the brother who’d lived hard and lost hard? Whose take on life might be jaded? Whose fiancée bailed on him for no good reason other than she didn’t want to marry a man in law enforcement? Who had to live through unspeakable tragedies when his National Guard platoon had been called up? Who—now that Ethan thought about it—had come to be a great judge of people because he’d said farewell to all the social pleasantries of life and saw people for what they were?

Still, Ethan wouldn’t have listened. “No. Probably not.”

“But you’re willing to listen to me now?”

“I guess…I mean…I don’t know.”

“I think you’re missing the most obvious thing here. Jennie’s already proven to all of us that she can commit. Sotos’s thugs kidnap her and she still won’t cancel the show. Doesn’t that say she isn’t afraid of commitment?”

“I don’t know, man.”

Cole clapped Ethan on the back.

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