Chương 7
“They emailed the family contact.”
“You’re not the family contact.”
“I’m the secondary contact.”
“Who made you secondary?”
Margaret stared at him.
“You did.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“Right.”
Margaret placed the folder on the table.
“The venue is already trying to suggest our greenery caused the incident.”
Claire said, “The video shows the snake near the crates.”
“It shows something dark near the crates.”
“Margaret.”
“I’m not denying the possibility. I’m saying we should not accept liability because people are frightened.”
Noah entered carrying a glass of water.
Margaret stopped.
He looked at the folder.
“What’s liability?”
“Adult stuff,” Ethan said.
Noah looked at him.
Ethan corrected himself.
“It means being legally responsible for something that happened.”
Margaret’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Noah nodded.
“Are we?”
Margaret said, “No one knows.”
Claire asked, “Where did the greenery come from exactly?”
“Our lake property.”
“Who cut it?”
“Two groundskeepers.”
“Where was it stored?”
“In the equipment shed overnight.”
Tessa had told Claire the snake was likely to have entered with the greenery, though animal control could not prove it.
Margaret sat.
“The venue accepted the crates.”
“Tessa told you not to bring them inside until the florist checked them.”
Margaret’s face changed.
“You’ve seen the footage.”
“Yes.”
“There’s no audio.”
“We don’t need audio to see you arguing.”
“You have no idea what we were discussing.”
“Tessa told me.”
Margaret looked at Ethan.
He said nothing.
Her expression sharpened.
“You’re both very comfortable assigning blame today.”
Claire felt anger rise.
Then Noah spoke.
“Grandma.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Why did you want the plants?”
The question stopped everyone.
Margaret blinked.
“What?”
“The plants. Why did you care?”
Her shoulders lowered.
For the first time since entering the house, she looked less like a woman managing liability and more like a tired sixty-two-year-old in yesterday’s makeup.
“Your grandfather liked that kind of mountain laurel.”
Noah said nothing.
Margaret touched the folder.
“He planted most of what grows along the north path.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t think I needed to.”
“You fought with the coordinator over it.”
“I wasn’t fighting.”
Claire gave her a look.
Margaret sighed.
“Fine. I was being difficult.”
Noah drank his water.
Margaret continued.
“Your father’s dad hated formal flowers. He said roses looked like they were trying too hard. I thought some branches from the lake would make the room feel less...” She gestured. “Purchased.”
Claire almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Margaret.
“I wanted a piece of him there.”
Ethan sat down.
“You could have said that.”
Margaret looked at him.
“You were busy.”
“So you ignored the coordinator.”
“Yes.”
The word came quietly.
No excuses.
No liability language.
“Yes.”
Noah asked, “Did the snake live at the lake?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you have more?”
“I sincerely hope not in the house.”
Noah smiled a little.
Margaret did too.
Then her eyes filled.
She looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Noah’s smile disappeared.
“For what?”
“For bringing the plants in.”
“Did you know there was a snake?”
“No.”
“Then why are you sorry?”
Margaret opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Claire watched her struggle with a question adults usually made complicated.
Finally Margaret said, “Because someone warned me about a safety rule, and I decided I knew better.”
Noah nodded.
Margaret’s voice shook slightly.
“That sounds familiar today, doesn’t it?”
Ethan looked down.
Noah did not rescue either of them.
“Yeah.”
Three days later, a video of the chair kick appeared online.
The angle came from a guest seated near the aisle.
It began half a second before Noah’s foot struck the chair and ended before Tessa lifted Claire’s train.
The snake was never visible.
The clip showed only a ten-year-old boy kicking a wedding chair, Ethan grabbing him, Claire stumbling backward, and guests reacting.
Someone added text over the video.
KID TRIES TO DESTROY DAD’S WEDDING.
By breakfast it had been reposted enough that Claire’s phone filled with messages from people she had not spoken to in years.
Was that Ethan’s son???
OMG is Claire okay
What was wrong with that kid
Someone wrote beneath the clip that Noah had “serious behavioral issues.”
Another person claimed he had attacked Claire.
A third claimed he had brought the snake himself.
Claire stopped reading.
Ethan did not.
She found him at the kitchen table with his phone in both hands.
“Stop.”
He looked up.
“They’re talking about him.”
“I know.”
“They don’t know anything.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to call the person who posted it.”
“Who posted it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Then who are you calling?”
He stared at her.
She took the phone from his hand.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
“My son is being accused of attacking you.”
“And you’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry.”
“You’re not useful when you’re angry.”
His expression hardened.
She almost apologized.
Then he nodded.
“Apparently not.”
That hurt more.
Claire sat across from him.
“What does Noah know?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
That was better.
Not the automatic certainty he would have given a week earlier.
Noah came into the kitchen carrying his backpack.
“You know I can hear you, right?”
Ethan looked at him.
“What did you see?”
“The video.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“A kid sent it.”
“From school?”
Noah nodded.
“What did they say?”
He shrugged.
“Noah.”
Ethan stopped himself.
The boy looked at him.
Ethan changed the question.
“Do you want to tell us what they said?”
Noah sat.
“One person said I was crazy.”
Claire looked away for a second.
“Someone said I should be arrested.”
Ethan’s jaw flexed.
Noah noticed.
“And somebody said I put the snake there because I hate Claire.”
Claire reached across the table.
Noah looked at her hand.
She did not move it closer.
After a moment, he placed his fingers against hers.
“I know you didn’t.”
“I know.”
“I mean everybody who matters knows.”
Noah stared at the tabletop.
“The kids matter.”
Claire had no answer.
Ethan did.
“Yes.”
May you like
They both looked at him.
He swallowed.
