Chapter Seventeen - Part Three

hand, and I was determined to help her get what it was that she claimed she wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t happy about it – at all – but it was too late, and I had already resigned myself to it. It was underhanded, and it was shady too. But from a few hard lessons that I had learned in the past, I knew that sometimes a clear conscious just wasn’t conducive for getting a tough job done.

I deleted Eve’s message, but refused to go through his phone to read the others. If Eve had texted him anything about our plans before now, Ethan would have confronted me already. And so with a quick look to the still vacant entrance of the coffee shop, I removed the battery to Ethan’s phone, and then stuffed it and the other pieces inside the glove box. I took a deep breath, rearranged my hair on my shoulders, and tried not to think too hard about what I had just done.

*  *  *

“Ok,” Ethan said later, when he was back inside the car. He had a small paper bag of food in his lap, and two coffees in a cardboard holder, indicating them with pride. “So, I got you this muffin-thing with cranberries and oats instead of blueberries. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and I know it sounds gross, but the chick behind the counter assured me they’re good.”

“Thank you.” I said, gratefully accepting the coffee that he offered. “That’s really sweet – even if I paid for it.”

“Hey, isn’t it the thought that counts?” Ethan said, digging in the bag to pull out a large, yummy-looking muffin. He took an enormous bite out of it, and then passed it along to me before turning his attentions to whatever else it was that remained in the bag. “Oh, Mimi, that’s good. You gotta try that.”

“Mmm, will do…” I said, hoping he wouldn’t notice if I didn’t eat it. “So, I saw Eve last night at the gala.”

“Great,” Ethan said, with a pained expression, as I began to drive. “She didn’t say anything to you, did she?”

“Actually, she did. But not anything that hurt my feelings, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s pretty obvious the girl still has feelings for you though. Otherwise she wouldn’t go through all this trouble just to keep your attention, or use me to get to you.”

“Wait a minute, she’s trying to use you to get to me?”

“Wait a minute, that came out wrong. What I meant is that she cares about you. Hell, she probably loves you…”

“That crazy female never loved anything or anyone more than she loves herself,” Ethan said. His voice was casual, but his heart was full of resentment. “Over the past few weeks she’s been sending me constant texts and emails, flooding my phone with calls… But you know what? They’re just a cry for attention. Eve can’t stand being ignored.”

“But you two were together for a really long time, Ethan. I mean, she’s told you she loved you before, hasn’t she? She’s at least said it to you, right?”

“Yeah, she did actually.” Ethan said, with an emptiness I couldn’t ignore, and lowering his sandwhich. “She said it once, and it ended up destroying what was left of our relationship. We were arguing one day because she got mad. I told her that she was expecting too much from me and she started to cry and tossed out some garbage about how she needed me and that she ‘loved’ me. You know, we’ve known each other our entire lives and that was the first time she’d ever said it.”

“So you broke up over a stupid fight about love? Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t her saying that be a good thing?”

Oh dear. Was this sympathy I was feeling for Eve? Was I going mad too?

“Mimi, we didn’t break up just because of some stupid fight,” Ethan said in a quiet voice. “We broke up because I couldn’t say it back.”

I felt an overwhelming sense of dread, as it dawned on me that Ethan’s words were the nails sealing the coffin of Eve’s fate. This was it. Her destiny lay in our hands, and if Ethan’s love couldn’t save her, then I hadn’t even the beginnings of an idea that could save her without angering Tidus.

“Okay, but did it ever occur to you, Ethan, that maybe she really did mean it?” I said, with careful gentleness. “Maybe the one time she chose to say it to you, she meant it. She knew she was losing you, and that was her last resort.”

But Ethan shook his head, his lips becoming thin lines out of his stubbornness. I couldn’t tell whether he was sad or angry – perhaps it could have been both. But in any case, I knew that he didn’t love Eve. I could tell from all that guilt in his eyes.

“Yeah, maybe she did, but it still doesn’t change the fact that if I’d said it back it would have been a lie. I mean, I’ve lied to Eve our entire lives, so it should have been easy, ya know? I’ve lied to her about cheating and partying and how I wanted to go back to college and move her into my house. But for some reason, this one time, I couldn’t do i. I couldn’t lie to her – not about that. I know Eve hates me.” Ethan went on to say. “And I know it still kills her that I couldn’t say it back. But I don’t think she gets how badly I wanted to. Because in a way, she deserved it. Eve helped look after my brother, when our mother died. And when our father was too busy with his whores to pay attention to his sons, Eve was there to listen. And I repaid her by sleeping with other girls… and chasing after you… ”

Silently, I pulled the car over to the side of the street. We had reached our destination, which meant the conversation would have to come to a close. But the tail end of his speech remained ringing in my ears, and I felt an aching in my chest. It was as if my heart had gone suddenly cold and heavy. And it was such a terribly sad and lonely feeling that I knew he was experiencing. After all, it was obvious – Ethan didn’t know how to love.

Which was a fair coincidence, considering the fact that I didn’t either.

“So there’s no possibility that you could? No chance at all?”

Ethan reached out and twirled a lock of my hair around his finger. It was an innocent enough gesture but I felt my heart flutter at the sweetness and intimacy of it. But then he let go, and the moment was gone.

“I don’t love her, Naomi. I never did and never will. There’s no chance for me and her, and that was my fault. I doomed her from the start.”

Thankfully, Ethan didn’t know how true his words rang. Instead, I alone would carry the burden of those consequences for him.

*  *  *

The Bakery appeared small and dingy-looking from the outside, with the shop’s name in faded and peeling script across the building’s front. And you couldn’t see inside, the glass in the windows and door panels were so thick with grime and dust. It appeared, for all other intents and purposes, to be just another ugly, grey building in the poorest section of Harbor Village. But the inside was a story of a different nature. You opened the door, and immediately the smells of sweets like sugar cookies and chocolate cake and apple pie gathered to form a cloud in your nose.

The small, but not cramped, interior of the shop had black-and-white tiled floors, and walls that were covered in similarly designed, pinstriped paper. And glossy, autographed photos of movie icons from the forties and fifties hung in red frames all along the walls, adding to the glamorous look of the place. A few round, black tables and their matching chairs were arranged throughout the room, and to the head of all this was the waist-height, glass counter top. And beneath the counter, the inside display was well-lit by hidden bulbs in the top panel. They kept the treats underneath lit to enticement, and at the sight of them, I could feel my mouth wanting to salivate.

But beneath the sharp, narrow scrutiny of the triplets from the other side of the counter, I was reminded that now was not the time to be thinking of confections.

The three young women were Asian, tall, and strikingly beautiful. Each had long, wavy tresses of hair so black it held a bluish tint. Red lipstick stood out on each of their narrow faces, with heavy black liner around slanted eyes the color of deep space. And the women were completely equal in their looks – identical down to their little black dresses and candy-cane striped aprons. And I found it drolly ironic that they could base the premise of their decoy businesses on a cake-baking operation, only to greet customers with not so much as a smile or a hint of sweetness about them.

“Hi,” I said, forcing myself to exhibit the confidence, that at the moment, I didn’t really have. “I’m Naomi, this is Ethan. And we’re here to buy a few… things.”

The triplet in the middle exchanged a superior, haughty look with her sister on the right. Meanwhile, the sister on her left remained fixedly focused on her nails, chewing and smacking a stick of gum loudly.

“We’ve got muffins,” The triplet in the middle finally replied, coldly.

“Yeah, so I see,” I said, with a well-mannered smile. “But ladies, I don’t think the stuff we’re looking for is gonna be on the menu…”

“Well then, sorry to disappoint you honey, but you’re in the wrong place,” said the sister on the left, still refusing to look up.

“Yeah, except, I don’t think I am…”

The triplet in the middle pursed her lips, and her nostrils flared at my persistence.

“Look, we know what you’re here for, but you’re not gonna get it, okay?” She said. “We don’t deal to your kind – not mota and definitely not herb. See, unfortunately for you two, we like to utilize a “no new friends” policy here at The Bakery. So unless you’re interested in buying a slice of freaking pie, then have a nice day.”

I refused to pay any attention to Ethan, who was giving me a strong, sideways look. He was probably thinking that buying from Witches was a fruitless, time-waster of an idea. And I had to admit, a small part of me really was considering just giving up. I mean really, how difficult would it actually be to simply turn over the house keys to Paris? I could pack my clothes, jump on a plane, and leave this town before morning.

They could all fend for themselves, I thought. Let Paris and Charles devour each other. My problems would be solved.

Um, yeah. Except they wouldn’t.