Chapter 14 - Lily Asked the Question I Had Been Avoiding
Spring arrived slowly along Narragansett Bay.
Lily began sleeping through storms again.
She wore yellow when it rained now.
The red raincoat remained packed away.
Daniel never suggested taking it out.
One Saturday they walked the marina together.
Maribel had been moved to a quieter berth.
Lily stopped twenty feet from the yacht.
Daniel did too.
They stood there without pretending it was ordinary.
“Are you selling it?” Lily asked.
“I haven’t decided.”
“Because of Mom?”
“Hannah?”
Lily nodded.
Daniel thought carefully.
“I kept it partly because of your mom.”
“And Claire wanted it gone.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want it?”
That question was harder.
Daniel had spent months thinking about cost.
Memory.
Trauma.
Control.
Claire.
Hannah.
He had almost forgotten the simplest question.
Did he still want the yacht?
“I don’t know.”
Lily looked at Maribel.
“If you sell it, does that mean Claire wins?”
“No.”
“If you keep it, does that mean she loses?”
“No.”
“Then how do you pick?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“I think we pick based on what we want our life to be now.”
Lily seemed satisfied with that.
Then she asked, “Can I go on it without going in the ocean?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You promise?”
“I promise nobody puts you over that rail.”
She took his hand.
They walked closer.
At the gangway, Lily stopped.
Daniel expected her to turn around.
Instead, she put one sneaker on the first step.
Then pulled it back.
“Not today.”
“That’s okay.”
Daniel did not encourage her.
Did not praise her bravery.
Did not turn the moment into progress.
He simply walked away beside her.
Behind them, Maribel moved gently against the dock.
May you like
For the first time, the yacht was waiting on Lily.
Not the other way around.
