I blinked. “When?”
“About six months after we met.”
That was new. “He said you asked him not to.”
“At first. Then I realized this was becoming real.”
She looked down. “I didn’t want to be a secret.”
That sentence broke something open in me.
Not because I blamed her. Because Ben’s lie had hurt both of us differently.
“Why did you keep seeing him?”
She thought about it. “Because he’s my biological father.”
Fair.
Then she said, “And because I wanted to know him even if he was handling everything badly.”
“That’s not selfish.”
She smiled.
“He says things like that too.”
“Don’t make me like you yet.”
She laughed. So did I.
Lily told me about her parents.
Her mother, Denise, was a librarian.
Her father, Tom, repaired elevators.
They were still married. Still her parents.
Ben wasn’t replacing anyone.
Before we left, she said, “For what it’s worth, he loves you a lot.”
