Chapter 7
The first repayment reached Lily’s account on a Thursday.
Sarah had sent a third of what she owed. Naomi confirmed it and showed me the payment schedule her attorney had proposed. The balance would be paid over the next several months.
I showed Lily the account statement only because she asked whether the money was safe.
“It’s being returned,” I told her. “I’ve changed the account so only I can move money from it.”
She studied my face. “Are you worried?”
“Less than I was.”
“Okay.”
Then she asked if she could invite Ben to her school art show.
I said yes. Claire brought him, and Sarah came too.
I had known Sarah would be there. Lily had invited her after thinking about it for three days. I had told her she could change her mind at any point, even when we reached the school doors.
She didn’t.
Her painting hung near the back of the classroom. It showed a small red bird on a branch outside an open window.
Ben spotted it first. “That’s the one you were working on.”
Lily beamed. “I finished the feathers.”
Sarah stood a few steps away. She wore the blue sweater Lily used to compliment. For a moment she simply looked at the painting.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Thanks,” Lily replied.
I could see Lily waiting for something else. Sarah seemed to see it too.
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Sarah said quietly. “I should never have taken your ticket. You deserved to go on that trip.”
Lily looked down at her shoes. “I kept asking you what to pack.”
“I know.”
“You could have told me then.”
“Yes,” Sarah said. “I could have.”
There was no excuse after that. Sarah let Lily turn back to her classmates.
I was grateful she had stopped talking.
Near the end of the show, Ben asked Lily to take a picture of the painting with her camera. They stood together in front of it, and Claire took their photograph. Sarah stayed at the edge of the group.
As we left, Lily reached for my hand.
“I’m glad I invited her,” she said in the car. “But I don’t want her to come home with us.”
“She won’t.”
The next week, Sarah and I attended a meeting with our lawyers. We discussed the house, the repayment plan, and the divorce. It was the first time I had sat across a table from her since the airport.
Sarah looked tired.
Her attorney explained that she wanted a chance to keep seeing Lily. Naomi said any contact needed to follow Lily’s wishes and happen with clear plans that Lily knew about in advance.
“I won’t surprise her,” Sarah said.
I looked at her. “That matters.”
Then we discussed Ben.
I had no legal right to set his schedule. Sarah did agree that he could visit Lily at Mom’s home and that Claire could help arrange it. Ben had asked for that himself.
We reached an agreement about the house as well. Sarah would remain there until it sold. After the sale, we would divide the proceeds according to the amounts we had put in, including the money Anna had left for my down payment.
I signed the preliminary terms with a hand that shook.
Outside, Sarah stopped me.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” she said.
I waited.
“I told myself Lily would get over one missed trip. I knew she’d be hurt, and I did it anyway.”
I could finally hear her taking responsibility. It did not make me want to go back.
“She’s working hard to feel safe again,” I said.
“I know.”
I went to my car. Sarah stayed on the steps of the building, looking down at her hands.
That evening, I picked Lily up from school and told her Ben was coming over on Sunday.
“Can we make pancakes?” she asked.
“You two can choose breakfast.”
“And can I take the camera to the lake?”
“Sure.”
She watched the houses pass. “At the art show, Sarah told the truth.”
“She did.”
“I still feel mad.”
“You can feel mad.”
“I feel happy about Ben too.”
“You can feel both.”
Lily considered that, then turned up the radio.
On Sunday, Ben burned the first pancake. Mom called it his practice pancake and ate it anyway. Lily laughed so hard she had to sit down.
I took them to the lake afterward. Lily photographed ducks, trees, and Ben trying to balance on a low wall. I photographed Lily when she thought I was pointing my phone at the water.
That night, she looked through her pictures beside me on the couch.
“Could we go to the ocean someday?” she asked.
“We can.”
She touched the camera screen, stopping on a picture of the open water.
“Maybe after everything is finished,” she said.
I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to wait for the divorce to be final. But I understood what she meant. She wanted a trip she could look forward to without wondering whether it would disappear.
May you like
“We’ll plan it together,” I said. “You’ll see every booking.”
She leaned against me. “I’d like that.”
