“You actually did it.”
“Well, yeah.”
He shifted his weight.
“I looked ridiculous for months. You’d better wear it.”
Lily covered her mouth.
Then she started crying.
Ethan froze.
“Wait. Is that bad?”
She shook her head.
“No, idiot.”
She stood up and hugged him.
He looked surprised for half a second before wrapping his arms around her.
Across the room, Lily’s father, Jacob, watched them.
He thanked Ethan politely, but something about his expression bothered me. He seemed exhausted, distant, and uncomfortable with the entire situation.
I assumed he was struggling with his daughter’s illness.
I didn’t know much about Jacob’s life.
Lily’s mother had died when Lily was young, and Jacob had eventually remarried. He loved his daughter fiercely, but grief and fear had made him protective in ways that sometimes left little room for Lily to make her own decisions.
I had seen him check her medication schedule, question whether she had eaten enough, and insist that she rest when she wanted to do something ordinary.
