I Planned My Exit The Moment His Loyalty Score Began To Fall Chapter 03

I Planned My Exit The Moment His Loyalty Score Began To Fall Chapter 03

Ethan froze. So did Summer.

Ethan quickly realized that the meal I’d brought was meant for him and me.

But he’d given my portion to Summer.

Summer realized this too and immediately panicked, stammering, “Mrs. Hale, I’m sorry—I… I didn’t know!”

“I’ll go buy you another one. What would you like?”

I, however, looked down and began clearing the dishes from the table, my tone flat. “No, it’s okay.”

Summer was so flustered her eyes turned red. “Mrs. Hale, I really didn’t mean to. Mr. Hale told me to eat it, so I did!”

Seeing that I had already lowered my head to clean up the table and noticing Summer’s pitiful expression, Ethan spoke up. “All right, this has nothing to do with you—it was my fault for forgetting!”

“But you’re partly to blame, too. You should’ve made yourself clear! If you’d told me earlier that you hadn’t eaten lunch yet, I wouldn’t have let Summer eat it!”

He paused for a moment, then took out his phone and transferred $500 to me.

“I transferred the money to you. When you head back later, find a restaurant and grab a bite to eat.”

I didn’t answer him. I closed the lunch box, snapped the lid shut, and stood up.

Just as I turned to leave, Ethan grabbed my wrist.

His voice was very low, tinged with a hint of apology. “I really didn’t mean to do that today.”

I said, “I know.”

He slowly let go of my hand.

I went downstairs, tossed the lunch box straight into the building’s trash can, and then drove to the restaurant.

I’m not sure if it was to get back at Ethan or just to let off some steam, but I ordered a table full of food and ate with great satisfaction.

After finishing my meal, I did some shopping at the mall before picking up Luna from preschool.

Then I took Luna back to the mall and had another hearty meal.

Ethan called to ask why we weren’t home, and I told him I was out to dinner with my daughter.

His voice carried a hint of resentment. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”

I retorted sarcastically, “You didn’t wait for me when you had lunch either!”

He was stumped by my retort and sulkily fell silent.