"You're shaking." Claire looked at her own hands and realized Margaret was right. Thomas faced Ethan. "You leave tonight."
Ethan stared at him. "Dad, this is my house too." Thomas's expression became almost incredulous. "That's what you're worried about?"
"I'm saying Claire and I need to talk without seven people in the room." "You forfeited the right to manage the audience," Mason said. "Mason, enough." "No, not enough. Six months isn't enough for you?"
"Stop trying to start a fight." "I'm not trying. I'm trying not to." Brooke moved closer to Mason and quietly put a hand on his arm.
Claire closed her eyes for a second. The room smelled like candles, baked cheese, frosting, and the wine no one was drinking. It should have been warm. It should have been loud with harmless stories. Instead every object seemed to accuse her of having believed in the wrong night.
Her gaze landed on the wrapped watch. Still choosing you.
She almost became physically ill.
Claire crossed the room before anyone understood what she was doing. She picked up the small silver-wrapped box and turned it over in her hands. Ethan recognized the wrapping paper because Claire used it every Christmas, and for one irrational moment he thought she might hand him the gift anyway, as though the evening could continue along some damaged parallel track.
Instead she tore the paper open herself.
The watch box appeared in her palm. She opened it, looked at the dark leather band, then removed the watch and turned the metal case toward the light. The engraving was too small for anyone else to read, but Ethan saw the line immediately because Claire held it at exactly the right angle.
Still choosing you. He closed his eyes. Claire gave a quiet, broken laugh. "I had this engraved yesterday."
"Claire..." "I stood in a jewelry store and wrote those words down. I actually worried they might sound too sentimental." She looked at him, then at the watch again. "That's funny now, isn't it?"
No one answered. She set the watch on the console table rather than throwing it. The restraint felt more violent than if she had smashed it against the wall.
Vanessa put on her coat. Her movements were stiff and mechanical. "I'm leaving."
Claire turned toward her. "Not yet."
Vanessa's eyes flashed. "I already said you're right. I knew he was married. I shouldn't have been here, and I shouldn't have been with him. But I am not staying in this room while his entire family looks at me like I'm the only person who did something wrong."
"No one thinks that," Natalie said. Vanessa glanced at her. "Really?"
Natalie folded her arms. "I think my brother is the reason you're standing here. That doesn't make your choices invisible."