“What did she say?”
“She hung up on me.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
His mother rarely hung up on anyone.
“She will calm down,” he said automatically.
Samantha gave a broken laugh.
“There you go.”
“What?”
“Taking care of everyone again.”
Ethan stopped.
She was right.
Even now, part of him wanted to manage the emotional temperature of the room.
He had built a life around being useful during crises.
That trait had made him good at work.
It had also made it difficult for him to know where responsibility ended.
“I need to go,” he said.
“Okay.”
“We can talk again tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Samantha.”
“Yes?”
“Do not contact Dylan except through counsel if you have decided to end contact.”
“I already blocked him.”
“That is your decision.”
“I know.”
They ended the call.
Ethan sat in silence for nearly a minute.
Then Maya knocked.
“You have a visitor downstairs,” she said.
Ethan frowned.
“Who?”
“Your brother.”
Owen entered carrying two takeout bags.
“I brought lunch because apparently that is what people do when their older brothers become emotionally unavailable hermits.”
Ethan looked at the breakfast sandwich he had barely finished.
“Maya called you.”
“She did not.”
“Mom did.”
“That makes more sense.”
Owen set the food down and studied Ethan.
“You look slightly less terrible than yesterday.”
“Thank you.”
“It is a low bar.”
They ate in Ethan’s office.
For the first ten minutes, Owen talked about football, traffic, and a ridiculous contractor estimate for his roof.
Ethan understood what he was doing.
Normal conversation created somewhere safe to stand before the painful part.
Finally, Owen wiped his hands and leaned back.
“Mom told me Samantha called again.”
“Yes.”
“She told the truth this time.”
“That is what Samantha said.”
“Mom is furious.”
“I assumed.”
“She wants me to help you change the locks.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I am not changing locks on a jointly occupied house.”
“I told her that.”
“Thank you.”
Owen studied him.
“Do you want to stay married?”
Ethan looked away.
“I do not know.”
“That is allowed.”
“I keep wishing the answer were obvious.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone understands obvious.”
Owen nodded slowly.
“If you leave immediately, people say you respected yourself.”
“If you stay, people say you forgave.”
“Real life is messier.”
Ethan looked at him.
“When did you become wise?”
“About twenty minutes ago.”
Ethan smiled faintly.
Then Owen’s expression became serious.
“Do not stay because you are afraid that leaving means eleven years were wasted.”
Ethan felt that sentence hit somewhere deep.
Owen continued.
“And do not leave just because staying would embarrass you.”
