“Just chores. I’m hoping to talk Everett into going out later for ice cream. That would have been a given a few years ago, but I guess I’m not cool anymore.”
“That means you’re a good mom, though, right?”
She laughed at that.
“I’m serious!” he protested. “All the parents I thought were cool at that age . . . Now that I look back? Yikes! They were all badly aging adolescents.”
She nodded. “So you’re saying I should cancel that freestyle rap class I signed up for?”
“No, you should definitely do that and send me a link to a livestream.”
Lily nearly spit out the last of her coffee at that. She was disappointed to realize she’d finished her cup, but it felt like a signal that it was time to retreat. He had work to do, and she . . . well, she couldn’t keep nurturing this crush.
“I’d better get back,” she said.
“Oh. Got it. I’m going to be back and forth all day. I could bring some lunch later?”
Lily cleared her throat. She glanced down at the fingers he’d wrapped around his coffee mug, and they just looked . . . nice. How in the world could fingers holding a cup somehow be attractive? “Sure,” her mouth said before her brain could stop it. “Yeah.”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and Lily reached for it in desperation, so she wouldn’t say more or, worse, feel more. It was a text from Zoey.
Call me?
“Oh, I need to get this. Sorry. I’ll grab your mug later?”
“Sure! I’ll text you about lunch.”
She hurried away without even saying goodbye, afraid he’d see all her anxiety bubbling up when she couldn’t explain it to him. It was just lunch, and only a severely damaged person would be so nervous about it. She was definitely severely damaged, but she preferred to keep that to herself.
Lily hit the CALL button and walked quickly away. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Hi, everything going good there?”
“Things are good, yes.” She put extra emphasis on good, hoping Zoey would persuade her to spill the beans about lunch. But her smile faded at her friend’s next words.
“You said I should call you if I need you, but . . .”
Shit. She hadn’t really meant that. She’d only been trying to be brave and bold and strong. But she didn’t feel like any of those things in the face of this unspoken question.
Feet slowing, she murmured a wordless “Mm,” because she couldn’t say yes this time. She couldn’t do it again with everything swirling so madly around her. Gretchen would be back tomorrow, and—
“I won’t ask you to shelter anyone again, but . . . it’s Connie.”
That brought her to a complete standstill. “Connie?” she whispered.
“You let her have that unit in your name three months ago?”
“Yes, I remember.” Of course she remembered. Lily was granted the right to one small storage unit as part of her compensation, but she’d never used it. Zoey had come to her and asked if there was anything she could do for Connie. Connie needed a place to keep furniture she’d acquired from a woman whose house she cleaned. She’d need something to start a new life for her and her son when she finally escaped.
Connie, who’d barely said a word when she arrived, had looked nearly sixty, gray and sunken in on herself. She’d later discovered the woman was only forty-five. Lily had offered the unit for free.
“Is she okay?” she asked.
“Yes. Her father-in-law had a heart attack, so her husband just left for the hospital in Kansas City. He’ll be gone until at least tomorrow morning, hopefully much longer. This is her chance to leave.”
She could do this. This was easy. “Of course. I’m here now; I can let her in anytime.”
“Is tonight okay? Her friend is driving in from Wichita to get her. She has a big van to help, but she won’t be here until eight thirty tonight, maybe nine. I know it will be after hours, but can you do that? I’ll drop Connie off, her friend will pick her up. The end.”
Lily said nothing for a moment, turning over all her fears about Gretchen and Mendelson and everything else.
“Lily?”
“Yes,” she blurted. “I can do that.”
“Thank you! Thank you, Lil. I’ll drop her and her son off at eight thirty on the dot.”
“Her son?” Lily glanced around, suddenly worried she wasn’t alone. Her senses sharpened, and the drone of a nearby frog sounded like an alarm.