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“Lucy, would you like to coht?” Ethan asks, a tad abruptly, I think

“Um…well, uh, sure,” I sta dessert”

“Sounds great” He packs up his bartending kit, then kisses each of the Black Widows in turn “Good night, you Hungarian beauties,” he says

“Good night, Ethan,” they chorus

We all four watch hio out the back

“Maybe you could ests

“Nonsense!” Iris iainst the law”

“Excuse ainst any law But actually—”

“Well, God’s law,” Iris interrupts “I atching The Tudors on Showti

“You get Showtime?” my mom asks “It’s so dirty”

“I know!” Iris agrees happily “They showed Anne Boleyn’s mellbimbók, can you believe it?”

“I’ainst the law, God’s or anybody’s,” I say mildly

“Well, Henry VIII thought it was, Miss Smarty-Pants,” Iris says “That’s why he divorced Catherine the Great”

“He was a pig, for one, and two, it was Catherine of Aragon,” I correct

“She’s so grouchy these days, Daisy,” Rose chides, as if it’s my mother’s fault

“I know,” Moh “What else do you watch on Showtime?”

“There’s a show called Dexter,” Rose breathes “Iris !”

Once again, I let the opportunity to say so about Ethan and me pass by, untouched They barely notice as I pack up my stuff and head for home

DINNER AT ETHAN’S IS FINE Delicious, really…eggplant parm, an old favorite of mine Salad Red wine A loaf of Italian, eous garlic-and pepper-infused olive oil that I’m tempted to drink Ethan makes short work of the blueberry crisp Idessert From the looks of it, anyway, and the way the aroma filled the kitchen

“What’s the secret ingredient?” Ethan asks, scraping up the last bit of his second enor The boy can eat

“I threw sospecial

“Nice,” he says

Ethan is trying hard to be normal, but like most liars or poker players, he has a tell, and the little ularity He tells me about a book Nicky and he wrote—well, Nicky dictated and Ethan typed—and I laugh as Ethan describes the hts and severed limbs that inspire my nephew

Weis fine pretense It’s e sit down in the living roolass of wine, which, on top of the few sips of one tohow tense I am

“So, Lucy,” he says, sitting in the chair adjacent to the couch, where I’ to look relaxed

“Yes, Ethan,” I answer

He looks at his hands, which are loosely clasped in front of his forward a little”

I s ht burn “Um…do you mean sex?”

“Not necessarily,” he says, looking at his hands again The ers to that spot and ease his worry Instead I sit tight and listen as he continues “Obviously I noticed that you haven’t told your aunts and iven that they askedto make an honest wo up “So”

“Right,” I say, shifting on the leather sofa “Well, us won’t work out”

“I think we need to try so to work or not, honey”

Ethan has called es in entle, his hands still

“What do you want to try?” I whisper, then clear my throat

He s frouy, so sex is alelcohty, and I feel it in hter

“But anything would be okay, Lucy Just telling people we’re together Or going out in public together”

“We did go out together in public,” I say “To Lenny’s”