"Lauren," Ethan warned.
"What? Melissa was awful. This one is already better by virtue of a) existing and b) bringing baked goods."
Inside, the house was lived-in chaos toys everywhere, half-folded laundry on the couch, photographs covering every surface. It was the opposite of Maya's carefully controlled apartment, and somehow that made it easier to breathe.
Marcus emerged from the kitchen, tall and solid and grinning. "So you're the one who finally got Ethan to consider staying in one place."
"I don't know about that," Maya said.
"I do. He's been talking about you nonstop. It's disgusting." Marcus took the bakery box. "Thanks for these. Lauren's been stress-baking all day, but store-bought is actually better."
"I heard that!" Lauren called from the kitchen.
Dinner was chaotic and lovely Oliver demanding attention, the baby fussing occasionally, conversations overlapping. Maya found herself relaxing into it, laughing at Marcus's stories about Ethan's worst photoshoots, watching Ethan play with Oliver with such natural ease it made her chest ache.
This was what he wanted. She could see it in the way he looked at Marcus's family longing mixed with fear. The life he'd convinced himself he couldn't have.
After dinner, while Lauren put the kids to bed and Marcus cleaned up, Ethan pulled Maya onto the back porch.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"That you're good with kids. That you look at Marcus's life like you want it but don't believe you deserve it." She turned to face him. "That you're more capable of commitment than you think."
"Or maybe I'm just good at pretending for a few hours."
"No. You're good at lying to yourself." Maya took his hands. "Ethan, why do you really travel so much?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "Because if I don't build anything, I can't watch it fall apart. If I don't have roots, no one can rip them out."
"But you're also never growing. You're existing in this permanent state of potential without ever actually becoming anything."
"Ouch."
"Honest," Maya corrected. "You want honesty, right?"
"I do. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." He pulled her closer. "What about you? Why do you really keep everyone at arm's length?"
"Because everyone I've loved has left. My mom died. My dad is still here but he's… diminished, half the person he was. I learned that loving people means losing them eventually. So I decided not to love."
"And then I showed up."
"And then you showed up," Maya agreed. "Making me want things I swore I'd never want again."
Ethan kissed her softly. "We're both so messed up."
"Catastrophically."
"Want to be catastrophic together?"
Before Maya could answer, Ethan's phone buzzed. He ignored it. It buzzed again. And again.
"You should check that," Maya said.
Ethan sighed and pulled out his phone. His expression shifted surprise, then something more complicated.
"It's Melissa. My ex." He looked up at Maya. "She says it's urgent."
Maya's stomach dropped. "You should call her."
"I don't want to"
"Ethan. It's fine. Call her." She forced a smile. "I'll go help Marcus with dishes."
She escaped inside before he could see the panic on her face. The ex-girlfriend. Of course there was an ex-girlfriend. Someone from his past, someone who knew him in ways Maya didn't yet.
Someone who might want him back.
In the kitchen, Marcus looked up from loading the dishwasher. "You okay?"
"His ex is calling."
"Ah. Melissa." Marcus made a face. "Don't worry about her. That relationship was over a long time ago."
"But she's calling now. Urgently."
"Because she's dramatic. She probably saw his Instagram and realized he's happy."
Marcus closed the dishwasher. "Ethan's not going back to her, Maya. Trust me. I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
"We've known each other for less than two weeks."
"Sometimes that's all it takes." Marcus leaned against the counter. "You know what Ethan told me yesterday? He said meeting you felt like coming home. That's not something he says. Ever."
Maya's eyes burned. "He's leaving in six weeks."
"Is he though?" Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Because from where I'm sitting, he's already mentally unpacking."
Before Maya could respond, Ethan came back inside, his expression troubled.
"Everything okay?" Maya asked.
"Yeah. No. I don't know." He ran his hand through his hair. "She wants to meet up. Says she needs to tell me something in person. Something about Thailand."
"The Thailand assignment?"
"Yeah. She's the editor I'm working with on it. I didn't mention that because it didn't seem relevant, but…" He trailed off. "Apparently there's been some change with the project. She wouldn't say what over the phone."
Maya felt ice slide down her spine. "So you have to see her."
"Just for coffee. To discuss the assignment." He took her hands. "Maya, it's nothing. It's work."
"I know."
"You don't believe me."
"I believe you believe it's nothing." Maya pulled her hands back gently. "But I also know that ex-girlfriends don't call urgently about work at 9 p.m. on a Sunday unless it's not just about work."
"Maya"
"It's fine. Really." She grabbed her jacket. "I should go anyway. Early session tomorrow."
"Don't run. Please." Ethan's voice was desperate. "This is what you do the second things get complicated, you bolt."
"I'm not bolting. I'm being realistic. You have history with her. You have a job with her. I'm the new thing that's complicating your life." Maya's throat tightened. "Maybe I shouldn't be here."
"Yes, you should. You absolutely should." Ethan caught her before she could leave. "I'll meet Melissa tomorrow, find out what she wants, and that'll be it. I'm not interested in her. I'm interested in you."
"For now."
"For now," he agreed. "Because now is all anyone has. I can't promise forever, Maya. Neither can you. But I can promise that right now, in this moment, you're the only person I want."
Maya wanted to believe him. Wanted to silence the voice in her head screaming that this was temporary, that he'd leave, that she was setting herself up for devastation.
Instead, she kissed him. Hard and desperate and full of fear.
"Meet her," Maya said against his lips. "Find out what she wants. Then tell me honestly if you're having second thoughts about staying."
"I won't be."
"Ask me again in a week," Maya whispered, echoing her own words from the night before. "When reality sets in."
She left before he could argue, before she could see the hurt on his face, before she could take back the walls she was already rebuilding.
Outside, the November night was cold and clear. Maya sat in her car for five minutes, trying to calm her racing heart.
Her phone buzzed. A text from Sienna: How was meeting the friends?
Complicated, Maya typed back. His ex wants to meet him. About work supposedly.
And you're spiraling.
Obviously.
Come over. Wine and bad decisions await.
Maya started her car and drove to Sienna's, where her best friend took one look at her face and poured two enormous glasses of wine.
"Talk," Sienna commanded.
"I'm falling for him. Actually falling. And it's terrifying because he's leaving and his ex is back and I'm going to get hurt and I don't know how to stop it." The words tumbled out in a rush.
"Maybe you don't stop it. Maybe you just feel it."
"That's what my therapist said."
"Your therapist is smart. So am I. So listen to both of us." Sienna squeezed her hand. "You've spent two years protecting yourself. And what's it gotten you? Safety, sure. But also loneliness. Stagnation. Half a life."
"Better than no life."
"Is it though?" Sienna's voice was gentle but firm. "Your mom died living fully. Taking risks. Creating art. Loving people. You're alive but not living. Which is worse?"
Maya felt tears slip down her cheeks. "I don't want to hurt like that again."
"I know, babe. But you're already hurting. This way, at least there's also joy."
Maya stayed at Sienna's until midnight, drinking wine and crying and letting herself be held. When she finally went home, she found a text from Ethan:
Meeting Melissa tomorrow at 11. I'll tell you everything after. I promise. Also I miss you already. Is that pathetic?
Completely pathetic, Maya typed back. Me too.
She fell asleep with her phone in her hand, her mother's paintings watching over her, and the terrifying knowledge that it was already too late to protect herself.
She'd already fallen.
Now she just had to survive the landing.