“Are things… civil?”
“Sometimes. Typically it’s more… reluctant tolerance at this point.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.” To her credit, she looked like she meant it.
“I tried to get her to go to counseling with me—you know, like couples counseling—but… no luck.”
If she thought it was weird he told her that, she didn’t show it. “How are the kids taking it?”
A little ball of dread unfurled in his stomach and he leaned back. “I don’t even know. I don’t… see them enough to really….”
At that, Willow frowned. “Well, that’s terrible. Why not? Did she move?”
Ethan shook his head slightly. “I’m not allowed unsupervised visits. Between Amanda’s work schedule and school and… everything, I don’t get to go over very much. Hopefully now that it’s summer I’ll get to see them more.”
“Why aren’t you allowed unsupervised visits?” she asked, still scowling.
Ethan’s eyebrows rose. It was the last topic he wanted to revisit with her, so he hoped she’d let it drop. “Why do you think?”
Her face fell. “Me?”
He shook his head firmly. “Me. And, to an extent, your dad.”
“Oh, my god. Ethan, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I could… talk to her if you think it would help. My dad won’t bother you ever again, and there’s no other reason you shouldn’t have your kids. You shouldn’t allow this. Fight her if she won’t be reasonable. There were no charges brought and I would never give evidence against you. If you fought her, she would have to back down.”
“It’s not going to come to that.”
“I can’t believe it hasn’t already,” she stated. “You adore your kids. What is she thinking?”
“It’s a lot to take in,” he defended. “I put them through hell. She needed time. I’m trying to let her come to terms… It’s not like I can’t see them at all, just not nearly as much as I’d like.”
“Well, that’s bullshit,” she stated simply. “If I were you, I’d tell her things need to change this summer or
you guys will be meeting in court.”
“Well, if it comes to divorce, we’ll be meeting in court anyway.”
“I’m so sorry you’re going through that,” she said quietly, shaking her head. “I wanted to… be there for you before, after everything happened, the way you had been there for me. I’m really sorry I wasn’t able to.”
Without thinking about it, Ethan’s instinct to comfort her took over and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him. Willow leaned her head back against him, the scent of her shampoo clinging to the air around him, and for a moment it was as if they hadn’t lost half a year.
“I appreciate that,” he assured her. “But it wasn’t your responsibility. Everything that happened was my own doing. You helped, you didn’t hurt.”
Tilting her head back to look up at him, she raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I said I loved you on a phone call that your wife was listening to, and she didn’t even know I existed.”
Pressing his lips firmly together, he nodded. “That’s true, but if you wouldn’t have, your father would have fed me a bullet. I may not be happy about the state of my family right now, but I would say it’s a step up from being dead.”
“I just wish none of that would’ve come out. Nobody else needed to know about it.”
“I agree.” Absently, he placed a little kiss on top of her head, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her again. “You changed shampoo,” he remarked.
Laughing lightly, she replied, “That’s a weird thing to notice.”
He smiled, lightly running his fingers up and down her arm with his free hand. “How have you been otherwise? Are you still seeing your therapist?”
“Once every two weeks. I’m going to cut down to once a month when I start school.”
“Are you sleeping okay?” he asked levelly.