“Look, the past is the past. Talking over every little indiscretion won’t help anything. I’m ready to move forward and forget all this if you are. You shouldn’t have come here without me, and I told you not to buy that house.”

“You are ready to move forward? And forget what? I’ve done nothing but be loyal and faithful to you for all these years. And just one time in my life I decide to do something impulsive and buy a house, and you think that gives you the right to sleep with someone else? What, out of spite?”

“No! Not out of spite. I was lonely, okay? You walked away and left me wondering what the hell was going on. You’ve no appreciation for all I’ve done for you. You were nothing when I met you, and look how far I took you. You’ve got options. A thriving career. The opportunity to marry a great catch who, you’ve got to admit, can pretty much pick and choose anyone he wants to.”

“Stop talking about yourself in the third person,” Quinn said. “It makes you sound like an idiot.” Suddenly she saw Ethan in a new light. One less perfect than the one she’d held him to for so many years. Yes, he was handsome, athletic, and successful, but he could also be demeaning. Controlling, too, if she really wanted to be honest. And he was definitely not sorry for cheating on her.

She stood.

“Let’s get something straight right here and now,” she said. “I’m where I am in my life because I’ve worked for it. I studied harder than anyone, graduated school, and went out and found the career I wanted. I’ve always done the right thing, even if it wasn’t the thing I wanted to do. If anyone besides me should get credit for that, it’s my mother.”

She thought about her two mothers now and how she’d probably been shaped by them both in some way. She didn’t even want to share her discovery about her family with Ethan. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

“Your mother?” Ethan said, standing up to face her. “She practically begged me to stay with you so that her daughter would have a better life.”

Quinn saw red. “That’s bullshit. My mother wanted what’s best for me, and you might be shocked to hear this, but she was never a fan of you, Ethan. And she’s twice the person you will ever be. Say another word about my mom and see what I do.”

It was ironic that she was defending the character of a woman who had basically stolen her from her birth mother, but she couldn’t help it. She loved her. And she was ready to scratch Ethan’s eyes out if he insulted her again.