Ethan found himself standing by the fence watching Selena dance with Chloe. Both of them laughing at something he couldn't hear. Jennifer stood nearby alone. He walked over. Thanks for coming.
Thanks for inviting me. I know I didn't deserve it. Khloe deserves to see us getting along. That's what matters. Jennifer nodded.
She seems happy with Selena. by me. She is. That's hard for me. Knowing someone else makes her happy. Selena is not replacing you.
She's adding to Khloe's life. There's a difference. I know. Logically, I know. But it still hurts.
Yeah, it probably always will. But you can either let it destroy you or you can accept it and move forward. Is that what you're doing? Accepting things? us trying to doesn't mean I'm good at it. He looked at her.
We're going to be in each other's lives forever because of Chloe. We can keep fighting, keep making each other miserable, or we can figure out how to coexist. Coexist sounds easier than it is. Everything sounds easier than it is. Jennifer almost smiled.
She's lucky to have you. Both of you. We're lucky to have her. They stood there in awkward silence for a moment. Then Khloe ran over, dragging Selena behind her.
"Mom, come dance," Khloe said to Jennifer. Jennifer looked surprised. "You want me to?" "Duh. It's a wedding. Everyone has to dance, even if it's embarrassing." So, Jennifer danced and Ethan danced and Selena danced and somehow all four of them ended up in a weird awkward circle while the DJ played some pop song Khloe loved and the sun set behind the house on Maple Ridge.
Later, after the guests left and the caterers cleaned up and Khloe finally crashed from a sugar high, Ethan and Selena stood in the backyard alone. "We did it," Selena said. "We did. What? We're married legally and everything.
How do you feel? Terrified, happy, confused, all of it at once. Same. She leaned against him. What happens now?
Now we live our lives. We mess up. We fight about dishes and schedules and who forgot to pick up milk. We watch Chloe grow up. We figure out this whole custody thing with Jennifer.
We keep choosing each other even when it's hard. That's it. That's the plan. That's the plan. Sounds boring.
Sounds perfect. They went inside. The house was a disaster. Wrapping paper and ribbon everywhere. Half empty wine glasses on every surface.
The chocolate fountain still dripping in the corner because someone forgot to turn it off. We should clean this up, Selena said. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we have brunch with half these people. Fine.
Tomorrow afternoon. You're terrible at this. At what? being responsible. I'm extremely responsible. I'm a teacher.
You left a chocolate fountain running. It's character building for the carpet. She laughed and pulled him toward the stairs. Come on. Before I change my mind about marrying you.
Too late. You're stuck with me now. Worst decision I ever made. Second worst. First worst was walking into the wrong house.
That was the best decision I ever made. No. three months later, the custody transition started. Khloe spent her first week with Jennifer, and it was harder than Ethan expected. The house felt wrong without her. Too quiet, too empty.
He kept setting three places at dinner before remembering. It gets easier, Selena said on the fourth night. Does it? I don't know, but we tell ourselves it does. When Khloe came home that Sunday, she was different.
Not bad, just different. She talked about Jennifer's apartment, about the school near there that she might transfer to eventually. About how Jennifer was trying, really trying to be present. "Do you like it there?" Ethan asked carefully. "It's okay.
Different. Mom doesn't know how to braid hair and she makes really weird food. But she's learning. That's good." "Yeah." Chloe paused. "I miss you guys when I'm there, and I miss her when I'm here.
It's confusing. It's supposed to be confusing. You're allowed to love both places, even if they're really different. Especially if they're really different. Chloe thought about this.
Okay, I can try that. Yeah. The weeks turned into months. The custody schedule became routine. Some weeks were smooth.
Some weeks Khloe came home angry or sad or confused, and they'd sit at the kitchen table and try to talk through it. Some weeks she went to Jennifer's excited and came back reluctant. And Ethan had to swallow his jealousy and be happy she was bonding with her mother. Family counseling helped. The therapist, a calm woman named Dr. Sarah Chen, taught them all how to communicate without attacking, how to validate feelings without fixing everything, how to accept that this new configuration was permanent, and fighting it only hurt Khloe.
She's going to have two homes, Dr. Chen said in one session. And that's okay. Kids are resilient. They can love two places, two parents, two different versions of family, as long as the adults don't make them choose. Ethan held on to that.
On the hard nights when Khloe was at Jennifer's and the house felt too empty, on the mornings when she came home withdrawn and wouldn't talk about what happened, on the days when he wanted to call his lawyer and fight for full custody again, he held on to it and kept choosing acceptance over anger. A year after the wedding, on a cold December evening, Ethan brought Selena back to the bathroom where they'd first met. He'd spent all day cleaning it, making it look as close to that first night as possible. The Iron Man shower curtain, the same towel hanging on the rack. Even the graded essays on the counter, though these were current students, not ones from two years ago.
"What are we doing here?" Selena asked. "I wanted to show you something." He pulled a small box from his pocket. Inside was a key. Regular house key. Nothing fancy.
On a keychain shaped like a tiny shower head. You're giving me a key to a house I already live in. Not just a key. The key. The one that says you don't walk in by accident anymore.
You belong here. This is your home. Selena took the key, turned it over in her hands. That's the corniest thing you've ever done. I'm an English teacher.