Page 239 of Abduction

Done that.

Heading into the room, Elizabeth put his suitcase down. Before she came in, Elizabeth had heard them both, and she knew she needed to talk to both of them.

Alone.

First, she’d handle her husband.

“Can I see you in the hall for a minute?” she asked, waiting for him.

Gene tried to move away from him, only, Ethan stopped him. He had faith in his wife, and he knew she was going to be the same person she always was.

A kind one.

Elizabeth didn’t kick a person when they were down, and their relationship was Teflon.

Him taking care of Gene wasn’t a marriage breaker. Tommy had misread that.

Thus, where he was.

“You can stay, Gene. Anything Elizabeth has to say to me you can hear.”

She sat on the corner of the bed.

Elizabeth knew this man mattered to Ethan. He didn’t have many people from his past he held onto, but Gene was one of them.

“Sure,” she said.

Then, she was curious.

“When I kiss a man I’m not married to, does it bother you, EJ?” she asked.

Yeah, he hadn’t been expecting this.

Not.

Even.

Close.

Elizabeth was up to something,

“I guess it depends on the guy. You kiss Gabe, and that’s fine. You have mothered the hell out of Noah, Lawless, Brody, Alex, and Max. You’re an affectionate person. You show love that way.”

She agreed.

“How about Dakota?”

Oh, he knew where this was going.

“That makes us all batshit insane, and you know it,” he said, laughing. “Likely because he proposed, and you almost said yes. Not to mention, before Eve, he pined away over what you had.”

Gene just laid there.

This.

Was.

Awkward.