I took the little color cards from him and set them on the marble island.

He didn’t turn to go right away.

He leaned on the counter and looked at the floor.

The afternoon light stretched across the hardwood boards.

“Look, yesterday at the boutique was a huge mess,” Ethan said.

“Vanessa was just stressed out about the seating charts for the party.

The store clerk got her instructions wrong.”

“I understand that planning a wedding is hard,” I said.