You were being systematically. He looked for the word worn down. She said, "Yeah, that's not weakness. That's what sustained erosion does to things." He glanced at her.
"I'm an engineer. I know what erosion looks like." She looked at him with something that moved quickly across her face and then settled into something warmer. "You just compared my relationship with Daniel to structural erosion." "Is that bad?"
"No," she said. "It's actually the most accurate thing anyone's ever said about it." He almost smiled. "I have my moments. Yes, you do, she said.
More than you think. They reached the bench near the climbing structure and sat. Lily was at the top of something and waving at them. They both waved back. The morning had gone full and bright.
The cold of early October giving way to something that almost felt like warmth if you sat in the right spot. Are you going to respond to him? Clare asked. I don't know, Ethan said. I don't think I owe him a response.
You don't? But I also don't want him to be something I'm carrying around. He looked at Lily on the structure. I've carried enough things. Clare nodded slowly.
If you do respond, don't do it for him. Don't do it for closure. Because closure is mostly something people invented to make themselves feel like they've completed a process that doesn't actually complete. She paused. Do it if it makes you lighter.
That's the only reason worth doing it. He thought about that. When did you get wise? She looked at him sideways. I learned from a plant.
He laughed. A real one. And she laughed, too. And Lily chose exactly that moment to call out from the top of the climbing structure. What's funny?
Nothing. Ethan called back. That means something is funny, Lily said with the forensic accuracy of a child who had made a career of reading adults. She climbed down with determined speed. Tell me.