Chương 3
That stopped him.
Maria folded her hands.
"You have children?"
Ethan looked past her toward the curtain.
"I apparently do."
Something in Maria's face softened, though not much.
"Then start acting like a father."
He looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"Right now? It means don't make the six-year-old watch security remove you from an airplane."
Ethan stared at her for a second.
Then he sat down.
Gerald glanced at him.
"Bathroom crowded?"
Ethan put his face in his hands.
Gerald returned to his magazine.
The plane began its descent twenty minutes later.
Claire buckled Lily into the window seat and checked the belt twice.
Noah fastened his own.
He hadn't spoken to her for eleven minutes.
Claire knew because she had checked the time three times.
"Your ears might hurt."
"I know."
"Chew the gum Aunt Sarah gave you."
"I know."
She stopped.
Noah stared ahead.
Claire folded his drawing carefully.
He took it from her.
"I can do it."
"Okay."
He folded it badly, creating a crooked crease through the faceless father's body.
Claire watched without fixing it.
The wheels touched down at 9:17 p.m.
Several passengers applauded weakly, an old habit that seemed particularly strange after the previous forty minutes.
Noah looked toward the front.
"Is he going to leave?"
Claire knew who he meant.
"I don't know."
"Can I talk to him?"
Her first instinct was no.
It came so fast that she nearly said it.
Then Noah looked at her.
Six years old.
Already learning that adults could withhold whole human beings from you.
"Yes," she said.
His shoulders relaxed slightly.
"But I stay with you."
"Okay."
Lily announced, "I have to pee."
Claire closed her eyes.
Of course she did.
They waited while the plane taxied to the gate.
The moment the seat belt sign switched off, everyone stood at once, restoring the ordinary chaos of air travel. Overhead bins opened. Coats dropped. Somebody complained about a missing scarf. A man three rows back immediately began a phone call before the cabin door opened.
Claire kept the children seated.
Ethan did too.
She could see the back of his head over the seats.
Maria spoke quietly with another flight attendant near the door.
Then a uniformed airport police officer boarded.
Claire's stomach sank.
Noah saw him.
"Are you going to jail?"
"No."
"Because you hit Dad?"
The word Dad landed differently from everything else.
Claire looked at him.
Noah seemed not to notice what he had said.
The officer approached.
"Ms. Bennett?"
"Yes."
"Could you come with me when the cabin clears?"
"Of course."
He looked at the children and gave them a small, reassuring nod.
Ethan remained in his seat until almost everyone else had left.
Then he stood.
He and Claire faced each other across six rows of empty seats.
Noah stood beside her.
Lily held Claire's hand.
Ethan walked back slowly.
He stopped several feet away.
The officer stepped between them.
"Mr. Cole, do you want to make a complaint regarding the assault?"
"No."
Claire looked at him.
The officer said, "You understand I witnessed the injury and crew members reported the incident."
"I understand."
"Do you require medical attention?"
"No."
"Do you want to pursue charges?"
"No."
The officer turned toward Claire.
"That doesn't automatically end the matter, but we'll document the incident."
"I understand."
Ethan looked at Noah.
"Hi."
Noah stared at him.
"Hi."
Ethan crouched.
This time Claire didn't stop him.
"I'm Ethan."
"I know."
"Right."
Noah held the folded drawing against his sweater.
Ethan glanced at it.
"Your drawing's good."
"It's not finished."
"I noticed."
"My dad doesn't have a face."
Ethan looked at Claire.
She forced herself not to look away.
Noah asked, "Do you want one?"
Ethan's expression broke for the first time.
Not dramatically.
His mouth tightened. His eyes lowered.
"Yeah," he said. "I think I do."
Noah unfolded the drawing.
The officer looked toward Maria.
Maria looked away.
Noah held out the red pencil.
Ethan didn't take it.
"You should draw it."
"I don't know what you look like."
Ethan gave a small, helpless smile.
"I'm right here."
Noah studied his face.
Then he bent over the nearest seat and began drawing.
Claire watched Ethan watching him.
The terror she had carried for six years changed shape.
It did not disappear.
It simply had competition now.
Guilt.
Outside the secure area, Claire's sister Sarah was waiting beside a Christmas tree made of silver-painted plywood.
She saw Claire first.
Then the children.
Then Ethan.
Her smile vanished.
"Oh, hell."
"Sarah," Claire said.
Sarah walked straight past her and stopped in front of Ethan.
She was thirty-eight, shorter than Claire and much less interested in restraint.
"You need to leave."
Ethan stared at her.
"You knew."
"Leave."
"You knew I had a son."
Sarah looked at the children.
"Not here."
"That's apparently everybody's favorite phrase tonight."
Claire stepped between them.
"Stop."
Ethan looked at her. "Where?"
"What?"
"Where do we talk?"
"We don't."
"Claire."
"Not tonight."
"My son just met me on an airplane."
"I noticed."
"Six years."
Her jaw tightened.
"Don't count them at me."
"I wasn't there."
"You were why I left."
"That's not the same thing."
"No. It isn't."
Noah stood several feet away with Lily.
He was listening.
Sarah noticed.
"Kids," she said brightly, "I have terrible airport cookies."
Lily went immediately.
Noah didn't.
"Noah."
He looked at Claire.
"Go with Aunt Sarah."
"I want to stay."
"This is adult stuff."
"It's about me."
Claire had no answer.
Ethan looked at him.
"He's right."
"Don't start parenting him five minutes after meeting him."
The words came out harsher than Claire intended.
Ethan's face closed.
Noah looked between them.
Claire exhaled.
"Sorry."
She wasn't sure which of them she meant.
Sarah took Lily's hand.
"Come on, Noah. Ten minutes. Then you can ask your mom whatever you want."
Noah hesitated.
Finally he followed.
Ethan watched him leave.
Then he turned to Claire.
"What happened?"
May you like
Claire looked around the arrivals hall.
People moved around them with rolling suitcases and paper coffee cups. A television above a closed bar showed weather maps without sound. Christmas music played through ceiling speakers.
