Chapter 3

The next morning, I taped up the last cardboard box when the doorbell rang.

I straightened up, but before I reached the door, Eric, who slept in the guest room overnight, beat me to it and yanked it open.

Laurie stood outside.

She walked in with a beaming smile, as if she returned to her own place. "Eric, I came to chat about the conception prep details."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the stacked boxes in the living room and landed on me. "Oh, Maeve, what were you up to... spring cleaning for the baby?"

Eric glanced at me with an awkward expression, but his tone softened the moment he saw Laurie. "You arrived just in time. I wanted to tell you the study stood ready to convert into the nursery."

Laurie's eyes lit up.

She breezed past me and wandered through the house, acting every bit the lady of the manor.

"This painting's colors felt too gloomy. Hanging it here would not help the baby's early artistic exposure. We needed to swap it out. Eric, your study had the best light, open north to south. It suited a nursery perfectly."

With every comment she made, Eric trailed behind and nodded along. "You thought of everything."

The two planned their shared future without a care for anyone else, treating me like thin air.

I crossed my arms and leaned against a stack of boxes taller than me, watching their absurd one-woman show like an outsider.

My heart stirred with no ripples at all. I even found it a bit funny.

Just then, Laurie's gaze fell on my packed therapy table. She covered her mouth in feigned surprise and turned to me. "Maeve, you still did that? House calls in all weather, so unsanitary, easy to catch bugs, tough and unsteady."

She paused, then spoke in a tone heavy with fake concern. "Once we had the kid, Eric shouldered the household alone. The pressure weighed too much. You ought to find something steadier and more respectable to share the load."

Her words dripped with contempt and humiliation for my profession.

Eric heard her and frowned at me too, chiming in. "Laurie had a point. That job of yours ran you ragged all over. What kind of image was that. Don't snap at her. She meant well for us."

I finally reacted, lifted my gaze, and shifted it slowly from Eric's face to Laurie's hypocritical one. "My job stayed beyond your judgment."

My words hung in the air when the doorbell rang again.

This time, without waiting for Eric, I strode over and pulled the door open.

Ethan's tall, straight figure appeared in the doorway.

He took in the scene inside, his eyes darkening, especially at Laurie and Eric standing close together.

But he asked nothing, just turned to me, his voice low and steady. "All packed up? I came to haul it."

At the sight of Ethan, the tight line of my mouth finally softened with a hint of warmth. "Yeah, all set."

Eric and Laurie both froze.

Eric in particular stared at his good buddy there to help me move, his face full of shock and betrayed fury.

"Ethan, what did you think you did?" He stepped forward to block Ethan.

Then he whipped toward me, blazing with anger. "Maeve, what did you mean by this? Engagement not off yet, and you called in Ethan for backup? So eager to jump ship, huh?"

His double standard nearly made me laugh out of sheer fury.

He could donate sperm for his "best female buddy," but me asking a pal for a hand became out of line.

Ethan's broad frame stepped in front of me, calm as he eyed the worked-up Eric. "She needed to move. I came to help. That was it. Eric, watch your words."

"My words?" Eric barked a laugh like it was the biggest joke, fully enraged by Ethan's protectiveness.

He jabbed a finger at me and yelled what he thought was his trump card. "Fine, just fine! Maeve, I told you, if you dared to go with him today, this engagement ended right here!"

He glared at me hard, his threat almost tangible. "I'd like to see who wanted you without me!"

Beside him, Laurie quietly flashed a smug smile.