Lily’s Question
Chapter 12 - Lily’s Question
The next week, Lily got into trouble at school.
Not for hitting.
Not for yelling.
For refusing to write a Mother’s Day assignment.
Her teacher had asked the class to describe “the woman who always comes back for you.”
Lily left the page blank.
When I picked her up, she climbed into the car and stared out the window.
“Want to talk?”
“No.”
We drove two blocks.
Then she said, “It’s a dumb question.”
“What is?”
“The assignment.”
I waited.
She turned to me.
“Some moms die. Some moms leave. Some kids don’t have moms. Why does everybody act like families all work the same?”
I pulled the car over.
She was eight years old.
But grief had aged parts of her I could not protect.
“Families don’t all work the same,” I said.
“Then why did you want Vanessa?”
That hurt.
I answered anyway.
“Because I was lonely.”
Lily looked surprised.
I had never admitted that to her.
“I loved you,” I continued. “I still do. More than anything. But after your mom died, there were parts of my life that felt empty. Vanessa made me believe I could have a partner again.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
I looked through the windshield.
“I love the person I thought she was.”
Lily nodded slowly.
“Is that the same?”
“No.”
She seemed to accept that.
Then she asked, “Do you love Noah?”
The question startled me.
“I care about him.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I smiled despite myself.
“I don’t know yet.”
She leaned back.
“I think you do.”
That evening, someone threw a brick through the front window of my house.
A note was tied around it.
STOP DESTROYING THE HALE FAMILY.
Lily screamed.
I pulled her away from the glass.
Police came.
Reporters arrived ten minutes later.
By midnight, Conrad had issued a statement condemning “all forms of intimidation.”
At one in the morning, Mark called.
His voice was shaking.
“Daniel, I need to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because the brick wasn’t random.”
My grip tightened on the phone.
May you like
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Conrad’s people have done this before.”
