# Ending-Earn Audit - Final Assembly Candidate

id: ending_earn | owner: codex | tier: book
date: 2026-07-05
target: Chapters 01, 20, 22-24 plus `thread_ledger.md`

## OPENING->CLOSE

OPENING->CLOSE: June's clean exit / leave-New-York pressure (set up Ch01: "My lease ends December fifteenth"; "Don't fix it") — TRANSFORMED. Ch20 closes the decision before confession: June declines Tasker, recommends Asha, accepts Dana/Kessler, and sends the January 31 notice under month-to-month terms. Ch22 states the principle: "I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you." Ch24 preserves the cost instead of romance rescue: "nine hundred eighty dollars due Thursday."

OPENING->CLOSE: fake public couple category (set up Ch01: "The last spot. You two"; Ch03: "That's us") — CLOSED. Ch24 gives artifact-borne partial disclosure, not a public confession: Ruth reads `After Class` and says, "You didn't start this together"; June answers, "No. We didn't."

OPENING->CLOSE: Odile's first-night intervention is too exact to be accident (set up Ch02: Odile's PARK/BRENNAN packet and couples/pairs/partners edits) — CLOSED. Ch24's proof page reads `Park, J. - Brennan, T. Last slot.` June names the wrong: "It worked... and it still wasn't yours to run."

OPENING->CLOSE: Theo's useful maintenance must become chosen work/restraint (set up Ch10: "it's all maintenance") — CLOSED. Ch21 gives him outside-June family pressure and the no-more-route boundary; Ch24 pays restraint with "I'm not carrying anything."

OPENING->CLOSE: art objects make evasion harder but do not solve choice (set up Ch12-Ch13 memory exchange and joint-piece assignment) — CLOSED. `After Class` carries the visible truth; June still controls privacy, portrait visibility, Odile proof, and final movement.

OPENING->CLOSE: cohort belonging without a jury scene (set up Ch04-Ch06 Sonia's seating, Ruth suspicion, Sam practical room-making) — TRANSFORMED. Ch20 gives Ruth/Sam a route not through Theo; Ch24 gives Mara/Luis blue-dish care and Ruth's privacy-preserving read without a class trial.

## LOCKED LINES

No byte-exact locked final line is declared in the reading guide. Locked beats are checked instead:

LOCKED LINES: no public confession — PRESENT-VERBATIM n/a — LANDS. Evidence: the cohort gets only the painting/label and Ruth's private "You didn't start this together."

LOCKED LINES: showcase as coda — PRESENT-VERBATIM n/a — LANDS. Evidence: private confession occurs in Ch22; Ch24 is reception/storage/portrait/Odile/snow settlement.

LOCKED LINES: Odile reveals she knew from first night — PRESENT-VERBATIM n/a — LANDS. Evidence: September 24 after-hours sheet and the torn proof page.

LOCKED LINES: June stays for herself first — PRESENT-VERBATIM n/a — LANDS. Evidence: Ch20 refusal before confession; Ch22 "It isn't for you"; Ch24 money remains due.

LOCKED LINES: first snow once at the end — PRESENT-VERBATIM n/a — LANDS. Evidence: first snow begins after showcase, remains literal cold/material pressure, and does not become a second confession.

## CALLBACK CHAIN

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch01 `Winter Kitchen` / label correction -> Ch24 Odile says June corrected `Winter Kitchen` / `Blue Stove` and that it triggered the last-slot pairing — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch01 "last spot" / Ch02 PARK-BRENNAN packet -> Ch24 `Park, J. - Brennan, T. Last slot.` — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch02 couples/pairs/partners language -> Ch24 proof of Odile tightening elastic rules — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch03/Ch18 Mara scarf and blue dish -> Ch24 dish filled and placed in room traffic — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch06 Ruth clean-exit suspicion -> Ch20 non-Theo message/catalog route -> Ch24 Ruth protects partial truth — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch10 useful hands -> Ch21/22 portrait terms -> Ch24 "I'm not carrying anything" — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch12-Ch13 memory exchange / `After Class` subject -> Ch23 final label -> Ch24 public reception and storage — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch14-Ch17 catalog acknowledgment -> Ch21 true-partial return -> Ch24 night-one proof — EARNED. Weakest link remains the exact binder's late arrival, but the paperwork/class-list pattern prepares the final proof.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch09/Ch15 Tasker-Asha-Dana-Kessler -> Ch20 decision -> Ch23 follow-through -> Ch24 $980 still due — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: Ch07/Ch08 hidden study -> Ch21 finished faced-to-wall study -> Ch22 terms -> Ch24 private turn/view/turn-back — EARNED.

CALLBACK CHAIN: first snow / December calendar -> Ch24 literal first snow at the close — EARNED.

ORPHANED-SETUP check:

- Priya/Ben Suffolk thread pays in Ch23; no Ch24 carry required.
- Public nephew identity remains intentionally private; this is protected resolution, not a dropped reveal.
- Asha/Tasker and Dana/Kessler continue as future-life logistics after the core stay decision is paid.

## STANDALONE/PACING

STANDALONE/PACING: The book truly ends with Theo limiting himself to the corner and June leaving toward her train. The proof-page scene is not the ending; it is the final ethical revelation. The settlement is behavioral:

> "To the corner," he said instead... "I'm not carrying anything."

The final paragraph continues as action, not explanation: June initiates the kiss, steps down, and goes. There is no post-ending explanatory trickle after "and she went." The future money/work facts remain open as life, not as an unresolved plot question.

## Verdict

EARNS.

No final-assembly revision orders. Residual risk: the final proof object is late but sufficiently prepared by the book's paperwork system; do not add a neon binder seed unless a fresh cold read reopens it.
