Chapter 14 - LILY’S QUESTION
Emma got into UCLA.
Lily reacted as predicted.
“No.”
Emma knelt beside her.
“It isn’t forever.”
“You said you wouldn’t leave.”
“I said I wouldn’t disappear.”
“That’s the same!”
“No.”
“It feels the same.”
That stopped Emma.
Lily’s mother had died.
Vanessa had disappeared from the house after betrayal.
Now Emma was leaving.
To a seven-year-old, explanations did not matter.
People went away.
Emma hugged her.
“I’m going to live twenty minutes away.”
“You’ll come back?”
“Yes.”
“For Tuesdays?”
“If you want.”
“Fridays?”
“Yes.”
“Birthdays?”
“Every one I can.”
Lily considered.
“Christmas?”
Emma smiled.
“If your dad invites me.”
Lily looked toward Adrian.
He immediately said:
“She’s invited.”
“Forever?”
Adrian sighed.
“Lily.”
“Forever.”
Emma laughed.
That night, Lily asked Adrian a harder question.
“Was Vanessa bad?”
Adrian sat on the edge of her bed.
“No.”
Lily frowned.
“She hurt Emma.”
“Yes.”
“She lied.”
“Yes.”
“So she’s bad.”
Adrian thought carefully.
“She did bad things.”
“What’s different?”
“People are bigger than the worst thing they do.”
Lily stared.
“Did Mommy ever do bad things?”
Caroline.
Adrian’s heart tightened.
“Yes.”
“Like what?”
“She once put orange juice in my coffee because she was angry.”
Lily laughed.
“That’s funny.”
“It was not.”
“Did you forgive her?”
“Yes.”
“Will Emma forgive Vanessa?”
“That’s Emma’s choice.”
“Will you?”
Adrian looked toward the dark hallway.
“I don’t know.”
Lily nodded as if that made perfect sense.
Children sometimes accepted uncertainty better than adults.
Before Adrian left, Lily asked:
“Did you do something bad to Emma too?”
He stopped.
“What?”
“You didn’t know Vanessa was lying until the camera.”
Adrian sat again.
“I didn’t push Emma.”
“No.”
“But years ago, I didn’t help someone when I should have.”
“Matthew?”
Adrian blinked.
Emma had told Lily.
“Yes.”
“Did you say sorry?”
“Yes.”
“Did it fix it?”
“No.”
Lily thought.
“Then why say sorry?”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“Because being unable to fix something doesn’t mean you stop being responsible for it.”
Lily pulled the blanket to her chin.
May you like
“That sounds like grown-up homework.”
“It is.”
