Then recovery took longer.
Megan lost her apartment after her roommate moved out and asked to stay “for a little while.”
Ethan said yes without asking me because I was overseas and he did not want to add stress.
I stared at him.
“You did not want to stress me, so you moved two people into our house and said nothing?”
“At first it was temporary.”
“What happened to temporary?”
He looked at his hands.
“I stopped being able to say no.”
There it was.
Not a conspiracy.
Cowardice.
Diane started cooking, rearranging, managing. Megan began contributing groceries. Ethan worked long hours and came home to a house where someone had already made every decision. He told himself the arrangement was helping.
Then Diane began talking about the household needing structure.
The first list had been general.
The second assigned chores.
The third had my name on it.
“When did you know about the nine hundred dollars?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Last week.”
“And you did not tell her to remove it?”
“I told her it was too much.”
I stared at him.
“Too much?”
“I mean—”
“You negotiated the amount?”
“No.”
“That is what you just said.”
He stood.
“I froze, okay?”
