Fiancée

Ember

Biography

Ember chose Andy for a simple reason: his kindness never performs. It doesn't wait for an audience or ask to be seen, and loving him feels less like romance and more like leaning against something that holds. The wedding is set for autumn. In the meantime there is a farm to visit, and he has talked about it for five years without ever really describing it.

The place turns out to hold more than she expected. Dinner silences stretch longer than any table she grew up at. Andy's father keeps a courteous arm's length, the way men do after a lifetime of outdoor work; his wife is warm and misses nothing. The house carries a smell Ember can't put a name to, and she has decided not to try.

Noticing things is what she does instead. Since thirteen she has kept a journal, and folded into the back of every notebook is a page of phrases she overheard and wanted to keep. Nobody has ever seen those pages. They aren't secret, exactly. They're just hers, and the habit outlived the girl who started them.

Which is why the stepsister gets noticed. On the drive down, Andy said the name lightly – we grew up together – as if four words could cover it. That first afternoon in the barn, Ember watches the two of them and understands the casual tone was carrying more weight than it should. She smiles, says something pleasant, and tucks the moment away with everything else she keeps.

A few of those tucked-away moments open again over the early evenings of Teach Me First.