After I Stopped Loving Him (Isabella and Ethan) novel Chapter 46

“Isabella, Sophia brought her friends over again,” Susan said, her voice tight with frustration. “Ethan just got back and now Sophia’s friends are practically glued to him. He looks pretty annoyed, but since they’re Sophia’s guests, he’s just putting up with it.”

“Oh,” Isabella replied absentmindedly. She was still focused on her phone, scrolling through photos of a two-story shopfront with four separate units. If she could get all four, either rent or buy, and knock the spaces together, it’d be the perfect spot for what she had in mind.

“Isabella, seriously, this is your job to handle,” Susan insisted. “You’re Ethan’s wife. When these shameless girls show up, it’s your responsibility to face off with them.”

Isabella just made another noncommittal sound.

“Isabella! What’s with that attitude? Are you even listening to me?” Susan’s patience wore thin.

“Susan, I am listening,” Isabella answered, still calm. “But Ethan told me himself. I’m just supposed to be the mascot. I’m not supposed to get involved in his business. Unless he comes to me directly and asks for help, I’m not stepping in. That’d just be crossing a line, and he’ll dock my allowance. If he cuts my spending money, are you going to make up the difference, Susan?”

Susan sputtered, unable to come up with a reply.

“Plus, Ethan hasn’t even called me,” Isabella went on. “If he really wanted me to step in, he’d let me know. For all we know, he likes having all those girls doting on him, hanging on his every word. Maybe he’s having the time of his life.”

“He’s not! He’s just… Isabella, aren’t you jealous? He’s your husband!”

Isabella laughed, her voice light. “He’s got so many admirers. If I got jealous every time, I’d be swimming in vinegar. I’d be so sour I’d get a toothache, and I couldn’t even eat tofu.”

“I don’t like sour things, so I don’t bother getting jealous. As long as I’m still Ethan’s wife, who cares how many fans he’s got? Even if they come up to my face and try to start something, as long as Ethan doesn’t hand me divorce papers, it doesn’t matter.”

Ethan’s brow furrowed.

Susan kept going. “I told her that as your wife, she should deal with the girls who come here acting bold. But she just brushed it off. She said you have way too many admirers, and if she got jealous every time, she’d die from all the sourness.”

“She said she doesn’t even like sour things.”

Ethan was quiet for a long time. Finally, in a low voice, he asked, “So what has Isabella Lane been up to these past few days while I was gone?”

He had plenty of houses. He just hadn’t come back to this villa lately. He’d been staying at another one, and Isabella had never even set foot in that place.