They returned three hours later.
Ethan carried a bag from a bookstore.
Denise carried nothing.
“How was it?” I asked.
“Acceptable,” Ethan said.
Denise rolled her eyes.
“He asked me question eight.”
I looked at him.
“What was it?”
He took off his shoes.
“I’ll tell you later.”
Denise did not answer for him.
Another point in her favor.
When she left, Ethan sat at the kitchen table.
“Well?”
I asked.
He turned the bookstore bag around and around.
“Question eight was whether she wished she had kept me.”
I said nothing.
“What did she say?”
“She said wishing is complicated.”
“That sounds like Denise.”
“She said she wishes she had been capable of staying.”
I nodded.
“But she said she doesn’t wish she had taken me away from you.”
I swallowed.
Ethan looked toward the door Denise had just closed.
“I think that was the correct answer.”
