Chapter 2
It poured rain in Southbridge the day Ethan moved out.
He had only packed two suitcases.
Claire stood at the gate holding an umbrella, tilting it fully over him. Her own shoulder was soaked through.
Karen, the housekeeper, murmured under her breath, "Miss Hughes sure knows how to look after him."
I sat at the dining table eating my oatmeal, and said nothing.
My father set down his newspaper. "Vivian, are you sure you don't want to see him off?"
"No," I replied.
"He did live here for ten years."
"That's why I am giving him his freedom."
My father sighed.
"I sent the note to the Bennetts. We'll get a reply this afternoon. If Lucas doesn't want to see you, don't take it too hard," he said.
I nodded.
Suddenly, Ethan's voice came from the doorway.
"Mr. Richard, I want to take Claire's piano with us," he said.
My father frowned.
The piano had belonged to my late mother.
When Claire first came to the Grant house, she had said she envied that I could play. I had taken pity on her and let her practice on it.
Later, she had played a piece at the school anniversary, and Ethan had praised her for being naturally talented.
After that, she had always said the piano felt like an old friend.
In my previous life, she had asked for it when she moved out too.
I had refused.
Ethan had called me stingy for clinging to an old piano, and Claire had cried, saying she only wanted a memento of her time here.
In the end, my father had caved and had it sent over.
Six months later, the piano had shown up at an auction. Claire had sold it.
She had claimed it was to raise money for Ethan's new business.
I set down my spoon and walked to the door.
"The piano stays," I said.
Ethan looked at me with even more disgust.
"Claire's played that piano for ten years. You never even touch it," he said.
"It was my mother's," I replied.
Claire's eyes welled up at once.
"Vivian, I didn't know it meant that much to you. I do not want it anymore," she said.
She said she didn't want it, but her hand stayed pressed to the piano lid, unwilling to let go.
Ethan put a hand on her shoulder.
"Vivian, Claire just wants a little memento of these ten years. Do you have to take even that from her?" he said.
I asked him, "Ethan, do you even know my mother's name?"
He blinked. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"You don't," I said.
I walked to the piano and lifted the lid.
Tucked inside was a yellowed sheet of music.
It was the first piece my mother had ever written for me, with her signature in the bottom right corner.
Claire's face changed. She reached out to yank it away.
"This paper's so old. I am afraid it will tear," she said.
I pressed my hand down on it first.
"Afraid it will tear or afraid people will see you wrote your name on the back?" I asked.
Ethan frowned.
"What are you rambling about now?" he snapped.
I flipped the sheet over.
Sure enough, Claire's signature was scrawled on the back, from when she had practiced her handwriting.
She had once entered this very sheet in a competition, claiming she had written it herself.
She had won first prize.
I had been called in by the teacher to answer questions. She had cried and said she had not known the music was mine. She had found it and loved it so much she had played it.
Ethan had stood right beside her back then, saying, "Claire does not have a scheming bone in her body."
Now, the same old scene was playing out again.
I slapped the sheet down on the piano lid.
"Claire, you don't get to take this piano, and you don't get to take this music either," I said.
Claire bit her lip.
"Vivian, do you have to humiliate me like this in front of Ethan?" she asked.
I looked at Ethan.
"Do you believe her or the sheet music?" I asked.
Ethan stared at the paper, silent for a long moment.
It was the first time he hadn't immediately jumped to her defense.
Tears spilled down Claire's face.
"Ethan, you doubt me too?" she choked out.
Ethan looked away at once.
"I don't," he said.
He said to me, "We'll leave the sheet music. We won't take the piano either. Are you happy now?"
I said, "It's not about me being happy. It's about you two not deserving it."
Claire covered her face and ran out into the rain.
Before chasing after her, Ethan turned and threw one last line over his shoulder. "Vivian, you push everyone away. You'll end up all alone."
I watched the two figures vanish through the rain.
He had said the exact same thing in my previous life.
Back then, I really had ended up alone.
But it wasn't until I reached the end of my life that I had understood.
Some people leaving wasn't a punishment.
It was setting me free.