Chapter 26 - Ethan hosts a party
Two years and ten months after the Mitchell engagement party, Ethan bought a small house outside Franklin.
Not small by my standards.
Small by Mitchell standards.
Three bedrooms.
Back patio.
No chandelier trees.
He invited me to a summer cookout.
Malik.
Employees.
Neighbors.
A woman named Claire whom Ethan had been dating for seven months.
Teacher.
Thirty-three.
I had met her three times already.
Important improvement.
Claire came to my house first.
Ate my meatloaf.
Helped dry dishes without making it performance.
When Ethan told me about the cookout, he said:
“What are you wearing?”
I stared.
His face went white.
“I meant weather. It might rain.”
I laughed until he got angry.
Good.
At the party, nobody screened my shoes.
I brought potato salad in the same reusable grocery tote.
Ethan saw it.
Paused.
Then kissed my cheek.
“Need help?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
No search.
No recording phone.
May you like
Just potato salad.
That ordinary afternoon felt more corrective than any courtroom.
