Noah
Ethan calls me the night after he finally talks to his father, and I can tell from the first word that it went better than either of us dared hope.
"He apologized," Ethan says, voice still a little disbelieving. "Actually apologized. Said he's been thinking a lot since the selection news, about how hard he's always pushed me, about how he never really asked if any of it was actually what I wanted versus what he wanted for me."
"That's huge, Ethan."
"It gets better. He asked about you. Actually asked, not in that suspicious, guarded way from before. Wanted to know how you were doing, whether you were the reason I seemed happier than he's heard me in years."
"What'd you tell him?"
"That you were the reason. All of it. That you make me want to be better without ever once making me
