“Something easy. Eggs, maybe?” I don’t want her busy cooking for hours.
“Easy enough. How do you like your eggs?”
“With ketchup.”
Her nose scrunches up in disgust, but she doesn’t comment. “All right, let’s head to the ketchup aisle.”
We round the corner, and I tell her to go on as I select some mustard for hot dogs later. She’s nearly at the end of the aisle when a man calls out her name, and I turn to pretend to look at items but slowly inch closer to them so I can hear their conversation.
“Lo?”
She stops rolling the cart, frozen for a moment. Then she jumps up in the air with excitement. “Ethan!”
My jaw tightens. Her fucking boyfriend is here. Just my luck.
Moving past the cart, Lola jumps into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, straining on her toes to achieve the embrace. “You came after all! I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing you again.”
I study them discreetly. Lola’s back is to me, and Ethan’s eyes are wide in a look of...panic? His hands outstretch at his sides as if he’s afraid of returning the hug. What the hell?
Another person rounds the corner and joins them. “Ethan? Oh, there you are. I found the basil,” a tall, leggy blonde says, then stops in her tracks, seeing Lola in Ethan’s arms. She places the basil in Ethan’s cart at the same time Lola takes a step back, and then the woman stands next to him, lacing her arm through his. “Who’s this?” she asks, looking between Ethan and Lola.
Bile rises to the back of my throat with anger. Lola’s heart is about to get broken. This fucker is cheating on her. I pick up another random item from the shelf and pretend to read the label, but keep watching, ready to jump in if Lola needs me.
“This is Lola,” he says. Even from where I’m standing five feet away, I see the woman’s eyes soften with something that looks a lot like pity.
“Oh,” she says in a soft tone. “You’re Lola. I’m Megan. It’s nice to meet you.”
Lola just stands there, frozen, and my heart breaks for her. She’s connecting the dots together now. What should I do? I want to go over there, take her hand in mine, and leave with her. But she needs to see this through. I know she does.
“Who—who’s this?” Lola’s voice is small as it breaks. “Ethan?”
“Megan goes to school with me. She came home with me to uh—uh, Megan? Mind waiting in the car?” Ethan asks.
“Yeah, Ethan. Actually, I would mind,” she says coolly, stepping away from him and arching a brow in his direction.
His pasty complexion flushes, his cheeks bright red, and he runs a nervous hand through his dark brown hair. “Lola, I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you in person . . .”
“Tell me what?” she asks.
God, I wish I could see her face right now.
“I didn’t want to break it off over the phone. You mean too much to me . . . Fuck! This is not how I wanted this to go.”
“And Megan is . . .?”
Ethan stays quiet, his eyes drifting closed. When he takes too long to answer, it’s Megan who speaks up. “I’m his girlfriend. I’m in town to meet his parents.”
Nothing from Lola. I expected a gasp. Tears. Yelling. Something. But she just stands there, quiet and heartbroken. I grip the can in my hands, and I want nothing more than to fling it at Ethan’s head.
“I’m sorry, Lo,” he finally says. “Long-distance was just never going to work out. I should have told you sooner,” he adds lamely.
Lola shakes her head. “I understand,” she says, barely above a whisper.
That does it. I can’t watch this anymore. And I can’t stand this awkward moment, with fucking Ethan and Megan looking at her withpity. They shouldneverpity her, not when they aren’t worth enough to lick the bottom of her shoe.
I walk confidently up to them. “Baby, you find the ketchup?” I say with a bright smile. I wrap my arm around Lola, resting it on her shoulder and pulling her into my side protectively. I duck a bit to kiss her temple, getting a whiff of her watermelon bubblegum, and she blinks up at me, startled. “Who’s this?” I ask, looking up at Ethan, my fake smile plastered on my face.
“Uh . . .” She’s confused now.