What? I want to deserve the way you look at me like I'm something more than maintenance worker who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Victoria sat down her beer, crossed the room, sat down next to him on the couch. The spring didn't poke her, which seemed unfair. You are more than that.
You've always been more than that. The maintenance uniform was just camouflage for someone who was doing extraordinary things for his daughter every single day. That's not extraordinary. That's just parenting. Single parenting while working three jobs while grieving your wife while keeping a 4-year-old fed and happy and loved.
That's extraordinary, Ethan. Most people would have collapsed under half that weight. I almost did collapse multiple times, but you didn't. You kept going. And now you're sitting on a couch with a spring that's trying to stab you.
Having honest conversation about the future with a woman who grabbed you at a party and upended your entire life. Ethan laughed despite himself. When you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. All of it.
The fake marriage, the media circus, Marcus threatening a 4-year-old on camera. None of it should have happened. Victoria took his hand. But I'm glad it did because otherwise I never would have met the man who calmed me down in a service corridor and told me to take 10 minutes and then defended me to my father and protected my daughter like she was his own. She's not mine.
She could be eventually if that's something you wanted. The implication landed heavily. Ethan looked at Victoria, saw the vulnerability she was trying to hide beneath casual phrasing. "Are you asking what I think you're asking?" I'm saying that whatever we're building, I want it to be real.
Not temporary crisis management, not fake marriage that we're pretending is real. Actual commitment to figuring out what our lives look like together. That's a lot to figure out. I know, and I'm not asking you to figure it all out tonight. I'm just asking you to tell me that you're willing to try.
Ethan squeezed her hand. I'm willing to try. 6 months passed. They learned things about each other that crisis hadn't revealed. Victoria had control issues that made delegating impossible.
She worked 16-hour days, even after promising to cut back. She forgot to eat when stressed and slept poorly, even when exhausted. Ethan had hypervigilance from 3 years of survival mode. He struggled to accept help even when help was freely offered. He carried guilt about Sarah that therapy was helping but hadn't resolved.
They fought about stupid things. Victoria left lights on in every room because she'd never had to think about electricity bills. Ethan got frustrated with her spending money on things Lily didn't need. She has enough toys, he said after Victoria arrived with yet another shopping bag. She doesn't need more.