After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 69

“Sure thing,” Isabella said with a laugh.

She hung up and settled in to enjoy her dinner, feeling perfectly content.

Across town, Ethan, Jordan, and Natalie were just beginning their meal. The three of them had always made quite the scene at the dinner table. Jordan and Ethan would both fuss over Natalie, peeling her shrimp, picking out the best bits of crab, making sure her fish was free of bones. Natalie's friends always said they were jealous, wishing they had two men who spoiled them that much.

Tonight, though, it was only Jordan looking after her. Ethan held himself back, not because he didn't care, but because he couldn't bring himself to do those things in front of Jordan anymore. His thoughts kept wandering to Isabella, wondering if she’d eaten or if she was still out somewhere.

“Ethan.” Natalie called his name, but he just kept eating, lost in his own world.

She called him again, and this time he looked up, startled. “Yeah? What’s up, Natalie?”

Jordan gave him a sideways look. “You alright? You’ve barely touched anything except rice, and you’re totally spaced out. Is the food bad, or are you just too busy worrying if Isabella’s eaten?”

He nudged Ethan’s plate closer and started piling food onto it with the serving chopsticks. “Natalie’s called your name twice. She just wants you to eat.”

“I can get my own, really,” Ethan said, flustered. “The seafood’s fresh, and everything tastes great.”

Jordan handed him a pair of disposable gloves. “Makes it easier with the shrimp and crab.”

She picked up the serving chopsticks and added some food to Ethan’s bowl, then to Jordan’s. “Let’s just keep things the way they’ve always been.”

Ethan managed a smile. “Of course we’re still friends, but things are different now. Natalie, you’re Jordan’s wife. I have to keep some boundaries. I don’t want Jordan to start thinking of me as the competition and lock me out of the Lane house.”

Natalie laughed, grabbing the wine bottle and filling both their glasses, then pouring herself half a glass. “Jordan would never do that. You know he wouldn’t.”

“Come on. It’s been ages since the three of us had a drink together.” She lifted her glass.

Jordan and Ethan set down their chopsticks and raised their glasses too, clinking them against Natalie’s. All three of them drank, emptying their glasses in one go.