“I’m aware of the timeline.”
“You don’t know him.”
“I’m getting to know him.”
“That doesn’t mean you move in.”
“I am not moving in.”
“You’re taking your suitcase to his house.”
“For six days.”
“Mom.”
Diane’s shoulders stiffened.
There was that tone again.
Not son speaking to mother.
Parent speaking to teenager.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Talk to me like I’ve lost my mind.”
“Nobody said that.”
“You don’t have to.”
Ethan stood.
“What am I supposed to do? Pretend this sounds safe?”
“You are supposed to understand that I’m sixty-four years old.”
“That doesn’t mean people can’t take advantage of you.”
Diane’s face changed.
“You think because your father died, I suddenly became stupid?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you’ve been acting like for three years.”
Silence.
I watched Ethan flinch.
