The Apology Brooke Couldn't Buy
Chapter 16 - The Apology Brooke Couldn't Buy
Brooke asked to speak to Ethan privately. He agreed to one conversation in a public hotel lounge, with no cameras or audience.
She sat opposite him in a simple blue dress. For a long time, she studied her hands.
“I thought I was choosing an easier life,” she said. “I was afraid of the uncertainty after the crash. Then Chad made me feel powerful again.”
Ethan waited.
“I treated your disability like an embarrassment. I let other people laugh. I joined in. There isn't an excuse for that.”
“No,” Ethan said. “There isn't.”
Brooke began crying. “I'm sorry.”
He believed she meant it, perhaps for the first time. But an apology didn't require him to return to a relationship that had harmed him.
“I hope you become someone who doesn't need to diminish other people,” he said. “I don't want to start over with you.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
Before she left, Brooke asked about Isabella. Ethan told her the banquet attendant was working elsewhere and spending time with her reunited sister. He offered no further private details.
When Isabella later asked how the meeting went, Ethan answered, “Sad. But necessary.”
“Do you forgive her?”
“I don't know exactly what that word means for us yet. I'm not planning my life around hating her.”
May you like
Isabella smiled. “That sounds like enough for today.”
They walked beside the lake, moving at a comfortable pace. Isabella had stopped unconsciously grabbing the back of his chair. She walked beside him, and when the path narrowed, she asked what he preferred. He loved her for that more than he knew how to say.
