Ethan Was Accused of Taking Clothes Without Permission — Then the Garage Camera Showed Who Had Put Them There Before He Ever Touched the Box
Chapter 14 — Why Ethan Had Been Packing Alone
Daniel drove quietly.
Then Ethan said:
“You know why I didn’t ask you to help me sort that first box?”
Daniel glanced toward him.
“Why?”
Ethan looked out the window.
“Because I thought you’d make fun of the drive.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why would I?”
Ethan shrugged.
Several weeks earlier, Daniel had seen a school flyer on the kitchen counter.
He joked:
“Another school collection? They collect something every month.”
Daniel barely remembered saying it.
Ethan did.
“I thought if I asked for your coat, you’d say it wasn’t worth the hassle.”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“So you planned to ask anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“But you expected me to dismiss it.”
Ethan nodded.
Daniel sighed.
His original accusation now had another layer.
Ethan had already been uncertain whether Daniel would take the project seriously.
Then Daniel walked into the garage and immediately assumed the worst.
“I’m sorry for that too.”
Ethan looked toward him.
“You don’t have to apologize for every sentence you’ve ever said.”
Daniel laughed.
“Good, because we’d be driving for weeks.”
Then he became serious.
“But I do need to notice when my casual comments make you think there’s no point talking to me.”
Ethan nodded.
“That’s fair.”
They drove the rest of the way home in comfortable silence.
When they pulled into the garage, the same cardboard box from the argument was still sitting beside the shelves.
Empty now.
Daniel looked at it.
Then at Ethan.
“You know what I see when I look at that box now?”
Ethan smiled.
“A box?”
“A reminder that I should let people finish sentences.”
Ethan laughed.
“You could probably fit that on a smaller reminder.”
Daniel nodded.
“Fair.”
But Claire had already made one.
She walked into the garage holding a small label.
And what she stuck above the workbench made both of them laugh.
