Chapter 11 - The party ends early
After Ethan asked why I came, I opened the tote.
George stepped closer.
Ethan immediately moved between us.
“Back up.”
George looked offended.
“This is my home.”
“And that is my mother.”
Patricia said:
“Everyone needs to calm down.”
Calm had become very popular now that the person on the grass had a family connection.
I removed the envelope.
Water had reached one corner.
The documents inside were dry because Denise had put them into a plastic sleeve.
I handed them to Ethan.
His eyes moved across the first page.
Then the second.
“What is this?”
George answered:
“Preliminary minority documentation.”
Ethan looked up.
“I’ve never seen this version.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Ethan, not here.”
I laughed.
That did it.
Not loudly.
But everyone heard.
Ethan looked at me.
“What?”
“Everybody keeps saying not here.”
Then:
“Apparently here was good enough for the hose.”
Caleb returned with a stack of towels.
Ethan wrapped one around my shoulders.
Then turned toward the guests.
“Party’s over.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“Ethan.”
“No.”
“Don’t humiliate me.”
He stared at her.
That sentence.
After what I looked like standing beside him.
He said:
“Everyone needs to leave.”
George stepped in.
“You are not dismissing guests from my home.”
Ethan looked around.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
He picked up his keys from a nearby table.
“Mom, we’re leaving.”
I said:
“You’ve been drinking.”
He stopped.
Good.
Two glasses of champagne.
Maybe three.
Not safe to drive.
Caleb said:
“I can call a car.”
George snapped:
“You’re done here.”
Caleb looked at him.
Then at Ethan.
Ethan said:
“Who employs you?”
Caleb hesitated.
“BrightHouse Events.”
Not the Mitchells.
Vanessa’s earlier threat to fire him had been empty.
Caleb’s expression changed slightly when he realized it too.
He called us a rideshare.
The engagement party ended in fragments behind us.
May you like
Not because I delivered a dramatic speech.
Because Ethan walked away.
