The door slammed behind him.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved. Then the sound of his uneven footsteps carried through the open window, fading as he made his way down the driveway toward the bus stop at the end of the road.
The apartment finally went quiet.
Ethan was still standing in front of me, like he was waiting for Brandon to come back.
Chapter 51
Claire
It took a while before either of us spoke.
The apartment had finally gone quiet, the sharp edge of the moment dulling into something heavy and uncomfortable. The broken glass was still on the floor. The smell of alcohol hung in the air. I leaned against the counter, arms crossed, trying to slow my breathing.
Ethan stood a few feet away, hands at his sides, posture still alert like he hadn’t fully stood down yet.
“Why were you here?” I asked eventually.
My voice sounded steadier than I felt.
He looked at me for a second, then huffed out a breath. “Is that really the most pressing question right now?”
I didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and sighed. “I was dropping something off. My mom made chili. She insisted I bring it over. Said you loved it and that it’d go bad if I didn’t.”
I blinked. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” he said. “Thank God, that I did.”
I swallowed. “Well… thank you. But I could’ve handled that on my own. Brandon isn’t violent. The worst he would’ve done is throw up on the rug.”
Ethan looked at me like I’d said something absurd.
“I’m still glad I was here,” he said. “I didn’t like the way he talked to you. The meanness of it. Especially toward someone he’s supposed to love.”
“He was drunk,” I said. “It’s not a big deal.”
His jaw tightened. “How can you be so calm about it?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he said, disbelief creeping into his voice, “I don’t understand how you can just brush it off. How you can forgive that so easily. How you’re not even bothered.”
That was the last straw.
“I’m not fine,” I said sharply. The words came out louder than I intended. “I’m not calm. I’m not unbothered.”
Ethan looked stunned.
“How could I be?” I continued, my voice shaking now. “How am I supposed to be okay with the indifference from the person who’s supposed to love me? How am I supposed to shrug it off when the one person I least want to see how miserable my life is, gets a front-row seat to all of it?”
I gestured around the apartment, the mess, the quiet aftermath. My chest felt tight, like the air had thickened.
“And the one person I used to talk to about this,” My voice broke. “The one person who actually knew how bad it felt, my best friend, Jenny.”
