Page 42 of Hostile Witness
“Sounds great.” He grabbed the box of doughnuts and brought them to the kitchen counter, where she was chopping peppers and onions. “Here, pick one.”
“You pick for me. I’m cooking.”
He lifted one from the box and held it out to her. “I got an assortment. The filling is always a surprise.”
She offered him a timid smile and leaned in for a bite. A little smudge of powdered sugar stuck to her lips as she closed her eyes and chewed. “That is a great doughnut.” She pulled his hand in and took a second bite as she poured eggs into a large frying pan. “Lemon, my favorite.”
Dragging his eyes away from the powdered sugar on her lips, he turned the jelly stick around. “You got the lemon one?”
“Sure did,” she mumbled with her mouth half full. “Why? You like lemon?”
“Affirmative. I ate two jelly sticks looking for a lemon.”
“Well, share it with me, Detective. I usually like one bite from the middle and the crusty end.” She loosened the edge of the omelet and raised her eyebrows at him. “Go on. I don’t mind. If you eat some of it, then I’ll try another one. That’s how I get to tasteallthe doughnuts.”
He eyed the treat, considering her proposition.
She waggled her eyebrows and gave a throaty chuckle. “C’mon... you know you want to.”
“You’re a schemer, T.” He bit into the prized lemon doughnut and sighed with satisfaction.
26
Tia leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath because her stomach hurt from laughing. “The stories of you and Sergeant Thompson during those hell workouts are priceless. Earl has always played it straight around me. I had no idea he was such a prankster.”
Ethan nodded. “Oh yeah, Earl is a master at maintaining his poker face. He pulled a prank on my ex a few years ago—” He paused and shook his head. “I don’t need to be talking about that right now.”
The turmoil rolling across his face was almost palpable whenever he referenced his ex-wife. “Tell me something, Ethan. You don’t seem to have any obvious flaws. What happened?” She reached into the box of doughnuts and pulled out another one.
He put his fork down. “You go straight to the heart of the matter, huh?”
She made an offhanded gesture. “It’s just that the subject makes you so sad. I’ve spent some time with a really great therapist, and one thing I’ve learned is that I’ve got to get over the fact that I messed up.”
He looked straight into her eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t leave my career for my ex. That was her final straw. I don’t blame her.” He picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite. “I worked too much and didn’t take care of her social needs.”
Tia narrowed her eyes. “Why were you responsible for her social needs?”
“I guess she wanted our life to be like it was when we were dating.”
“When did you start dating?”
“We dated on and off through college and then lost touch after graduation until our late twenties, when we got together again.”
Tia bit into the side of a doughnut so she could get to the filling faster. “I don’t know any adults whose social life is the same as it was in college. I drank and partied all weekend back then.” She raised her eyebrows and gave a short laugh. “My third graders would eat me alive if I tried to do that now.” Leaning across the table, she held the doughnut to his mouth. “It’s peach. You can’t say no to peach.”
He smirked and took a bite. “I’m not quite sure how my ex and I ended up together. Maybe it was convenience and the desire to settle down. We thought we knew each other pretty well, but as soon as we married, I wasn’t what she wanted, or needed. It felt like I was always doing something wrong.”
“Like how?”
“Like I detest yard work, so I hired a neighbor kid to mow the lawn and clean up the leaves. It irritated her that I’d waste money hiring the work out. But with my work schedule, I thought it was the most efficient way to get it done.”
Tia set her head in her hands. “I’d love to have the money to hire someone to do my lawn so I could have time to fuss with my flowers.”
“Yeah, maybe we’re alike that way.” He forked a bite of omelet. “I disappointed her a lot, and I’m sorry for that. I missed our second anniversary because I was on a work assignment. I certainly didn’t go into marriage thinking it would end. There was this one time when I’d just come off an eighteen-hour shift and we met for breakfast. She swore the waitress was flirting with me, and I didn’t pick up on it. We argued all weekend over something I didn’t even see.”
Tia waved her fork at him. “You definitely should’ve put that waitress in a choke hold before she had a chance to toy with you.”
He leaned back and laughed. “I doubt you can make light of the fact that one time, I unknowingly used the last of the coffee. The whole week was ruined after that.”