Ethan looked toward the pavement.
Ten years of anger did not disappear.
That would have been too easy.
But suddenly it had nowhere simple to sit.
“You could have written after.”
“I know.”
“A year later.”
“I know.”
“Two years.”
“I know.”
“Five.”
“I know.”
Each answer softer.
More ashamed.
“Why didn’t you?”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“Because she died anyway.”
Ethan went silent.
“Eighteen months after we left.”
Sophia swallowed.
“And once she was gone…”
“I had lost you.”
“I had lost her.”
“I had become exactly what my father wanted me to become.”
“I told myself contacting you would only reopen everything.”
“Then another year passed.”
“Then another.”
“And eventually I became ashamed that I had waited so long.”
Ethan rubbed a hand across his wet face.
His daughter opened the pickup door.
“Daddy!”
He immediately turned.
“I told you to stay inside.”
Lily stepped out holding a small pink umbrella.
“You’re getting soaked.”
She ran toward him.
Ethan crouched slightly as she approached.
Lily held the umbrella above both of them badly.
Mostly above herself.
Ethan smiled.
“Excellent coverage.”
“I’m short.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“Yes.”
Lily looked at Sophia.
Up close.
Her eyes widened.
“You’re really pretty.”
Sophia looked startled.
Then laughed softly.
“Thank you.”
Lily stared at the red car.
Then at Sophia’s outfit.
“Are you famous?”
“Lily.”
“What?”
Sophia smiled for real this time.
The sound hit Ethan harder than anything else.
Same laugh.
Older.
Still same.
“No,” Sophia said. “Not famous.”
“Rich?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Lily.”
Sophia laughed again.
“A little.”
Lily nodded as if confirming a theory.
“I knew it.”
“How?”
“Your purse.”
Sophia looked down.
“This?”
“My aunt has fake ones.”
Ethan covered his face.
Sophia looked genuinely delighted now.
“What’s your name?”
“Lily.”
“I’m Sophia.”
Lily offered her hand formally.
Sophia shook it.
“Nice to meet you.”
Lily looked between Sophia and Ethan.
Then said:
“Daddy knows you.”
Ethan froze.
Sophia looked toward him.
“How do you know that?”
Lily shrugged.
“He said your name differently.”
Ethan stared at his daughter.
Sophia’s smile disappeared into something softer.
“Children notice too much,” Ethan muttered.
Lily nodded proudly.
“Yes.”
Thunder rolled somewhere across the mountains.
Ethan looked toward the road.
“We need to get out of here.”
Sophia nodded.
“There’s a diner ten minutes east.”
“I know.”