The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Fifteen, Part One - Breaking The Rules

"Something's bothering you. I can tell," said Ethan. We were driving to the Gala in his car. He'd shown up not long after Tidus left, so handsome in his tuxedo, with his hair swept back like Prince Charming. With a smile, he'd offered a corsage of daisies.

"I know they're, like, an uber-traditional flower to give." He'd stood in the exact same spot that Tidus had less than an hour before. "But Mrs. Planchon told me they represent friendship. They're my white flag." He'd offered the corsage and I had accepted–grateful and even flattered at his effort to try and behave normally with me.

Yet despite the sweet start to our date, already there was a pall on the evening as I gazed out of the car window onto a town covered in clouds. Night was creeping on Harbor now, and a gentle breeze came with it. I closed my eyes and tasted the sea.

"You wanna talk about it?" said Ethan, glancing at me after switching lanes. "I know it's gotta be hard for you right now–learning the truth about Jack..."

Ethan's heart was in the right place, but he was dead wrong. I wasn't worried about that. Well, not at the moment, anyway. It was actually the guilt that was troubling me. Eve would need her decision tonight, and looking into Ethan's face as he tried to be a good friend wasn't making this any easier for me.

"Yeah, but is it the truth though? Is that really the way it happened? Because... I dunno... Suddenly it feels almost too easy to point a finger at my mother and say that she did it, she killed her own husband. Lately nothing in Harbor is has turned out to be the way it seems--especially people."

"Yeah, I guess you'd be right about that." Ethan bit his lip. "Honestly, Mimi, I'm having second thoughts about Paris too... but at the same time I can't see another alternative. From what we know, those guys from the morgue weren't lying. They said his wife showed up and paid them off. So Paris may not have killed Jack, but she had something to do with this... What are you gonna do if she's there?"

"You mean at the gala?" Ethan nodded. "She won't be there. She hasn't been harassing Addy at her committee meetings lately. We think she's out of town or something."

Either way, I was in no hurry to solve this puzzle. At the end of the day, my father was still dead, and pushing Paris into a confession wouldn't change that. So for the truth, I could wait.

"But when she does come around--and I know she will--I'll get my answers." I said. "All good things come to those who wait, right?"

"I guess we'll see."

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