“Ah, a friend,” he said with a nod, waiting to see if she would elaborate.
“Yep,” she said.
Since she didn’t, he prodded, “Girls’ night out?”
Her cheeks flushed a little and she glanced down at her boots, absently kicking out at thin air. “No. Guy friend.”
He knew that already—he also knew that wasn’t what she wore—but instead of saying so he merely grinned and said, “Ah, you went on a date.”
Her cheeks turned an even deeper shade of pink. “No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know, I guess.”
Ethan nodded. “Did you have fun?”
“Um, yeah, it was okay.” She took a breath and refused to look in his direction.
Letting it drop, he merely nodded.
A couple minutes later, their food was already done and since he preferred privacy—and the staff probably wanted to go home—they went out to his car to eat.
He expected her to be more finicky, but he was quickly learning that either Willow was getting comfortable around him, or she wasn’t a shy person at all. While they ate, she boldly stole a piece of his sweet and sour chicken and shared rice from the same dish he was eating out of.
As she reached over and cut off another end of his chicken and popped it into her mouth, he glanced at her in amusement. “Not a germaphobe, huh?”
Raising an eyebrow curiously, she murmured, “Hm?”
He indicated their shared dishes. “My wife and I have been married for years, she still won’t eat off my plate.”
Willow shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “That’s illogical.”
“I mean, you say that now, but when you get mono…”
Rolling her eyes, Willow said, “I’ve had your dick in my mouth, I’m not going to get precious about sharing rice.”
Choking on the Coke he had just taken a sip of, Ethan could only stare at her, eyes wide in surprise.
Willow merely shrugged and took another bite.
“Damn, Willow.”
“Well,” she said expectantly, her eyebrows rising. “Just saying.”
He cleared his throat a couple of times, but he wasn’t sure where to go from there. It was a damned unique situation.
“What did your therapist—er, how did that go?”
Twisting the lid off her Diet Coke, she took a drink and then screwed the lid back on, remarking, “It was weird for me, but she didn’t seem surprised. Which I guess makes sense. A girl gets kidnapped and sold to a whorehouse, it’s more surprising if she didn’t get violated along the way. I explained the situation though. I mean, I know you don’t know her or anything, but I wanted her to understand how it happened.”
Ethan was glad that she finally told someone, even if it made him feel awkward to have someone else in the universe know what he had done. While he also wanted to ask more questions in his own self-interest, he also didn’t want to pressure her to reveal any details about her counseling session.
“You know what actually surprised her? That we’re still in contact. I wasn’t sure if I should even tell her that, but since you said to tell her everything…”
Nodding, he said, “Well, I can see why that would be surprising.”
“Yeah,” she said, but her expression was non-committal. “I don’t know. It sorta feels like you’re the only one who really understands though, you know? My parents don’t get it. Everybody else wants me to go back to the way I was before, but I don’t think I can. Besides, I’m more interested in moving forward than back.”
It struck him as a wise observation and he found himself nodding. Surprising himself with his honesty, he said, “I might be more like your parents than you think. I’ve been trying to find my way back, too, but I can’t seem to get there.”
Nodding as if she understood, she said, “Well, our circumstances are obviously different. It really hasn’t been that long though, you know? I’m sure after a little more time has passed… it’ll be easier for you.”