THE HOUSE ETHAN COLE BUILT FOR TWO
Chapter 2
Ethan had been saving for months.
He never talked about it much.
Walter knew.
June knew.
Probably half the town knew.
But nobody asked.
Every week, Ethan put part of his paycheck into a separate account.
He worked at the workshop during the day.
Sometimes he repaired fishing equipment after hours.
Sometimes people called him for small jobs.
A broken fence.
A leaking pipe.
A damaged boat.
A shed that needed rebuilding.
He said yes more often than he should have.
There were nights when he came home exhausted enough to fall asleep without eating.
But the number in the account kept growing.
He had a goal.
Not a new truck.
Not better clothes.
Not travel.
A house.
Somewhere permanent.
Somewhere Lily could have a bedroom.
Somewhere she wouldn’t have to wonder how long she was allowed to stay.
The thought of that had become important to him.
Lily had entered his life during a journey Ethan had never expected to remember so vividly.
He had gone to the orphanage for reasons that had nothing to do with adoption.
He had intended to stay briefly.
Help where he could.
Leave.
That was what Ethan had always done.
But Lily had been different.
She hadn’t trusted him immediately.
She had watched him.
Asked questions.
Stayed near him without getting too close.
And on the day Ethan left, she had stood by the doorway holding the strap of her little backpack.
She hadn’t cried.
That was what Ethan remembered most.
She had simply asked:
“Are you coming back?”
Ethan hadn’t known what to say.
So he had said:
“I don’t know.”
It was an honest answer.
It was also one he had regretted ever since.
