Simple.
Ethan wrote it all down.
He practiced with Adrian too.
The first rehearsal happened in my mother’s hallway.
Adrian stood beside the coat closet pretending to be the groom.
Ethan took my arm.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You moved first.”
I stared.
“So?”
“I start.”
“Why?”
“That’s how we practiced.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was already smiling.
“Fine.”
Ethan reset.
“One.”
We walked.
“Two.”
Then:
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Too fast.”
“You’re the one counting.”
“I know.”
Adrian finally started laughing.
Ethan glared at him.
“This is serious.”
Adrian immediately straightened.
“You’re right.”
“Again.”
We did it again.
And again.
By the fourth attempt, I said:
“Ethan, we’re walking thirty feet, not landing an airplane.”
He looked offended.
“I want it right.”
That shut me up.
Adrian understood before I did.
He waited until Ethan went to get water.
Then quietly said:
“This matters because he thinks he’s doing something for your dad.”
I looked toward the kitchen.
Ethan was carefully refilling the same glass because he had spilled two drops.
“I know.”
Adrian squeezed my hand.
“He’ll be perfect.”
He was the first person, other than me, who never questioned it.
My mother worried that Ethan might become overwhelmed by all the people standing.
Adrian said:
“Then we pause.”
My uncle wondered whether the music might confuse him.
Adrian said:
“Then we wait.”
One bridesmaid asked whether someone should walk behind us in case Ethan needed help.
Adrian said:
“He’ll tell us if he needs help.”
Every concern ended the same way when it reached Ethan.
“I practiced.”
That was his answer.
Crowd?
“I practiced.”
Music?
“I practiced.”
Turn at the front?
“I practiced.”
Handshake?
“I practiced.”
And that should have been the end of it.
Everyone who mattered supported the plan.
Then Margaret Cole invited us to dinner.
Margaret was Adrian’s mother.
I had known her for almost five years by then.
We had never been close.
But we had always managed civility.
Margaret was a woman who believed almost every social problem could be prevented through advance planning.
Christmas cards went out before December.
Dinner napkins were pressed.
