I didn’t sleep.
I lay on my childhood bed staring at the ceiling fan as it ticked useless circles above me, my phone clutched in my hand like it might bite. Every time a car passed outside, my heart jumped.
By morning, my nerves were shredded down to wire.
Mom tried to make me eggs. I couldn’t eat. Coffee tasted like ash. I paced from the living room to the kitchen and back again, wearing a groove into the hardwood.
“She said Seth would handle it,” Mom said gently, watching me spiral. “That means someone was there. That’s good.”
“That’s not good,” I muttered. “Nothing about this is good.”
I waited until noon.
Then one.
Then two.
Finally, at three, I couldn’t take the silence anymore.
I stepped out onto the back porch, the cold biting through my sweater, and called Ethan.
He answered immediately.
“What?” he said.
Not sharp. Not angry.
Just… wrecked.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I just— I needed to know if you’re okay.”
There was a long exhale on the other end. Wind. Airport noise.
“I’m not,” he said honestly. “But I will be.”
My stomach dropped. “What happened?”
He didn’t answer right away. I could hear him moving—footsteps, a bag shifting, the hollow echo of a terminal.
“Seth went over last night,” he said finally. “He told her he was house-sitting. Checking the mail. Tried to keep it calm.”
I pressed my back against the railing, bracing myself.
“She didn’t buy it,” he continued. “She was already completely spun. House was wrecked, Beth. Water everywhere. Firepit still smoking. She was soaked, barefoot, wearing my flannel like it was armor. She must’ve had a key made. Stole the spare and did it all while I was none the wiser.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I could see it too clearly.
“She started screaming at him,” Ethan said. “Accusing him of covering for me. Saying I sent him to spy. She kept saying, ‘He’ll be back any minute. He told me he’d forgive me.’”
My chest tightened painfully.
“Seth told her to leave,” he went on. “She refused. Said she didn’t break in. Said she had a key. Told him she could prove it.”
“She does,” I whispered.
“I know,” Ethan said flatly. “She made copies. I didn’t realize until now.”
My hands started shaking again.
