THE JOB THAT MADE ETHAN COLE PART OF GREYHAVEN
Chapter 13
The next morning, Ethan woke before the alarm.
For a few seconds, he lay still.
Rain tapped softly against the window.
He looked at the clock.
5:12.
He had forty-eight minutes.
Normally, he would have gone back to sleep.
Instead, he got up.
He made coffee.
He stood on the porch.
The ocean was gray beneath the morning sky.
He breathed in the cold air.
There had been a time when mornings meant escape.
Where would he go?
Who would he find?
What secret was waiting?
Now the question was different.
Who needed breakfast?
Who needed a boat fixed?
Did Lily need her bicycle again?
Was Walter going to complain about his knee?
Would Claire pretend not to care if Ethan arrived early?
The questions were smaller.
But somehow they mattered more.
Ethan returned inside.
He picked up his keys.
Then noticed the envelope still sitting on the kitchen table.
The one from the unknown man.
He hadn’t thrown it away.
He hadn’t investigated it.
He had simply left it there.
A reminder.
Not every mystery needed to become his life.
He put it in a drawer.
Closed it.
Locked it.
Then walked out.
