Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series) by Rhonda McKnight

don’t want to embarrass him by visiting another one.”
    Okay, so there was some family business I didn’t know anything about. Terrance hadn’t mentioned strife with Ethan when we were dating. I cleared my throat like you did right before you were going to ask a nosy question. “Do you mind me asking why?”
    “I don’t mind you asking, but I don’t really want to talk about it,” he replied.
    I was starting to feel like a hypocrite. I kept insisting I wouldn’t date a younger man, so it shouldn’t have mattered what he was or if he was still dating that model or if he was getting on a plane to God knows where the morning after the wedding. None of that should have mattered, because he was way too young for me. But even with all that rationalization, I couldn’t let it go.
    I nodded. “You can’t say something like that and not tell me why. I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
    It was Ethan that cleared his throat this time. I could see he was uncomfortable. “I kind of have… had a problem with my uncle.”
    I tilted my head toward him indicating I needed more.
    “I found a letter my mother wrote to him. I figured out I was eleven based on the postmark. She asked him if she could come back to Garrison. She wanted to live in this house.” He paused. “I asked him about it, specifically why she never came and he said he told her there were conditions. No boyfriends, she had to go to church, get a job and attend drug treatment meetings. I don’t think she liked the rules.”
    This was much heavier than I thought. I fingered the cross that hung around my neck and prayed for the right words to say to him. “Pastors always have rules,” I said, easily. “It’s kind of a job requirement.”
    He inhaled deeply and then let his breath out in an audible sigh. “I know, but, she was his sister. He knew she was troubled. And it wasn’t like she was going to be in his house. She wanted to stay in her father’s house, but my uncle had the keys, so he had the control.”
    I was shocked. This story was getting worse. Ethan slumped in his chair and I was certain his posture was consistent with the way he was probably feeling.
    “It’s taken me ten years to stop being angry about it.” He picked up his fork and played with it nervously. “It’s hard for me to not think if she’d been here in Garrison that she wouldn’t have died or at least she wouldn’t have died before I saw her alive again.”
    His eyes began to shine in the dim light and my heart broke for him. I reached for his hand and squeezed it. He sat up, shook his head like he was shaking off pain. “I’ve never told anyone that,” he said and then he shoved a piece of bread in his mouth.
    “You needed to.” I squeezed his hand again.
    “Yeah, I guess, but it hurts to say it. Heck, it hurts to think about it.”  He let out another long sigh. “And Terrance didn’t help.”
    My ears perked up. “What did Terrance do?”
    “I was upset about the conversation I had with his father. I tried to talk to him and he took up for his dad.” He shook his head. “The thing is I wasn’t looking for someone to agree or disagree with me. I know my mother had issues. I just wanted a listening ear. He started throwing all kinds of scripture and church rules at me.” He pushed his body up in the seat and raised an eyebrow. “What did you ever see in that guy?”
    We both laughed. I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. “But, I’m not trying to figure it out now.”
    “Well, anyway, now you know why I haven’t been to my uncle’s church.”
    Silence filled the space for a minute while we continued to eat. I had experienced a lot of pain, but this was a kind of loss I didn’t know anything about. I was out of comforting words, but I couldn’t not say anything. “You know your uncle has regrets too, even if he feels he made the right decision, he still has regrets. There’s no way he couldn’t.”
    Ethan raised his glass. “And he