THE NIGHT ETHAN COLE FINALLY FELT AT HOME
Chapter 8
At one in the morning, Ethan returned to the fire.
The adults had become louder.
Someone had opened another bottle.
Someone else had started singing.
Walter was playing guitar.
Badly.
Very badly.
Ethan sat beside June.
She handed him another drink.
“You’re getting good at this.”
“At what?”
“Being around people.”
Ethan smiled.
“I was always good at being around people.”
June looked at him.
“No.”
She took a sip.
“You were good at standing near people.”
Ethan looked at her.
She wasn’t wrong.
“You noticed?”
“Everyone noticed.”
He looked at the fire.
June leaned back.
“Greyhaven has a strange way of doing things.”
“Meaning?”
“We don’t ask people to trust us.”
She paused.
“We just keep showing up.”
Ethan looked at her.
That was exactly what had happened.
Walter kept showing up.
June kept showing up.
Claire kept showing up.
Lily kept showing up.
And somehow, little by little, Ethan had stopped waiting for them to disappear.
