Chapter 11 - Ethan Without the Suit
I saw him at a grocery store.
No tailored suit.
No expensive watch.
No leased luxury car outside.
Just Ethan holding a basket containing bread, eggs, coffee, and frozen vegetables.
He saw me.
We both stopped.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
He looked thinner.
“I started working for someone else.”
“That’s good.”
“First time in fifteen years.”
“How is it?”
He almost smiled.
“Humbling.”
I nodded.
He looked at my cart.
“You still buy that terrible cereal.”
“You still judge it.”
For one second we were married again.
Then the moment passed.
He became serious.
“I’m paying restitution.”
“I know.”
“I’m also seeing someone.”
My chest tightened unexpectedly.
“A therapist,” he added.
I laughed.
“So am I.”
“That’s probably because of me.”
“Partly.”
He looked down.
“I’m sorry, Claire.”
“I know.”
This time I could accept the apology without mistaking acceptance for reconciliation.
At the checkout, we went to separate lines.
That felt symbolic.
Two people who once believed they were headed toward the same future now moving forward separately.
And I discovered something surprising.
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I wanted him to become better.
I simply didn’t need to be there when he did.
