After giving Mallory his thanks, Ethan stood up and hugged him goodnight. Then, he walked over to his parents and wrapped his arms around both their necks. "Love you. Bye," he said happily. He then ran back upstairs before Emily could protest. She sighed and followed him up the stairs.
"Come help me set the table," she ordered, gesturing for her son to follow her into the kitchen. "We're gonna eat early today. We've got lots of shopping to do before school tomorrow."
As she finished washing all the dishes, Emily noticed that the water level inside the dishwasher was lower than usual. It was usually higher than this when she checked it earlier that morning, but she wasn't sure why. She assumed it was because there were two cups of cereal sitting on top of the cupboard. When she looked clo
