I opened the thermos. Inside was a lukewarm,
watery mess with a few bits of seafood floating
around.
I closed the lid and looked at him calmly.
<
“Ethan, I’m allergic to seafood.”
Panic flashed across his face. “There’s barely
any seafood in it. You’ll be fine.”
“Zach ate most of it… I mean, I asked them to
go easy on the seafood. I remembered you
were allergic.”
“And anyway, a little seafood won’t hurt. You
grew up in foster care, you can’t be that
sensitive.”
I just stared at him silently.
He’d probably forgotten. When we first started
dating, he took me out for seafood. He stood
there, hands on his hips, grinning, proudly
presenting me with the menu.
“Anna, you’ve never had seafood before! I just
got paid, order whatever you want, it’s on me!”
<
We ate a lot of seafood that night. And that’s
the night I discovered I was allergic.
Ethan had cried and held my hand in the
ambulance. When I woke up in the hospital, he
swore, “Anna, I’ll never forget. You’re allergic to
seafood.”
And now he was telling me a little seafood
wouldn’t hurt, and implying that my difficult
childhood meant I shouldn’t be so “sensitive.”
I walked back to the bedroom without a word.
I checked my phone. Ashley had posted a
picture an hour ago.
In the photo, a tall, handsome man was wearing
a cute cartoon apron.
Ethan.
He was hunched over a cutting board,
<
meticulously preparing seafood.
Ashley’s caption: “Seafood congee is the best.”
I didn’t know if he hadn’t wanted to wait in line
for the congee I liked, or if he just didn’t want to waste the leftover seafood congee.
Either way, the result was the same. He brought
me home their leftovers.
It hadn’t always been this bad.
Ashley was Ethan’s childhood friend. We started
dating in college, and even then she’d always
been around, constantly calling and texting
Ethan.
I knew she liked him, but Ethan reassured me. He showed me all their messages, gave me all his passwords, brought me to every hangout.
At our wedding, Ashley had watched Ethan with
<
undisguised longing, tears in her eyes. I’d been
half–expecting her to object.
But she hadn’t.
Soon after, she moved abroad, married a guy
from overseas, and gradually drifted out of
contact with Ethan.
Until she and her husband split up. She came
back, divorced, with two young kids.
Newly back, Ashley was struggling to adjust.
She reached out to the only person she knew in
the city: Ethan.
Childhood friendship, sympathy for a single
mom.
And maybe even a twinge of guilt. Ethan felt
responsible for Ashley’s impulsive marriage,
blaming our whirlwind romance.
<
10:43
So, he helped her. Again and again.
And I tolerated it. Again and again.
I got jealous. I complained.
He’d stroke my hair, pull me close. “If I hadn’t
rejected Ashley, she wouldn’t have run off and married that guy. I have to take some
responsibility.”
“Zach’s so little, I can’t just leave them to fend
for themselves.”
“You’re so understanding, Anna. Just until they get settled, okay? Then I’ll back off.”
So, when Ashley couldn’t cook and called,
Ethan would leave me with a table full of food
he’d just made to go cook for her and her kids.
He couldn’t cook before, but now, for them, he
was practically a chef.
62
“Just order takeout for them! I made all this
food!”
“Takeout’s full of junk. Kids need healthy
food.”
So, when Ashley’s TV broke and she called,
Ethan would abandon our movie night
one he’d been looking forward to
—
—
the
to go fix it.
He knew nothing about fixing TVs, but now, for
them, he could probably qualify as a handyman.
“Call a repairman! You’ve been wanting to see
this movie forever.”
“It’s fine. I can’t just leave them alone with
some strange guy in the house. They’re all
alone.”
Once, things were getting intimate between us,
when Ashley frantically called. “Ethan, Zach’s
really sick, throwing up everywhere. Can you
come over?”
<
62
I wrapped my arms around Ethan’s neck, trying
to kiss him. “Tell them to call 911.”
He turned his head away, already scrambling
for his clothes. “I’m going. Just wait for me.”
“Zach’s sick, I have to make sure he’s okay. Don’t be like this, Anna. He’s just a kid.”
Later, I found out Zach had gotten food poisoning from the street food, ice cream, and
fried chicken Ashley had let him gorge on.
Ethan held me, complaining about Ashley, but
his voice was full of affection.
“Honestly, Ashley’s clueless. Zach and her
would be lost without me. She wouldn’t survive.
Not like you, Anna. You’re so capable and
independent.”
