She looked down at her shoes.
“I worked hard on my princess dress.”
“I heard you made it with your mom.”
“Grandma helped with the stars.”
He smiled faintly.
“It sounds wonderful.”
Lily didn’t smile back.
“Okay,” she said, then returned to her leaves.
Mr. Harrison accepted that.
Before walking away, he told me he’d telephoned Anna.
They hadn’t spoken at length in months, but he’d asked whether she still had photographs from the old Halloween party.
She remembered the pink shoes.
And she remembered my mother.
“Anna said your mother helped her get her ribbon,” he told me quietly. “She wondered why I hadn’t listened when she’d told me the same thing years ago.”
He looked ashamed.
“I owe her an apology, too.”
Over the following weeks, Mr. Harrison kept his distance.
He greeted us politely but never pressured Lily for affection.
One afternoon, I saw him leaving with a small overnight bag.
