At Lily’s Bedside

St. Joseph’s had a smell that stuck in the back of Daniel’s throat. Bleach, old coffee, and heat from too many bodies in one room.

He stood outside Lily’s curtain with Emma tucked against his leg, her small hand knotted in his sleeve. Vanessa had gone to talk to a nurse. Or make a call. Daniel didn’t care which.

Lily lay in the bed with her hair spread on the pillow, a bruise rising along one cheek. The doctor had cleaned her hands and checked her over twice. No broken bones. A few cuts. Dehydration. The words should have helped.

They didn’t.

Emma took one step in and stopped. “I got her food.”

Lily turned her head. Her eyes locked on the paper boat tray in Emma’s hands.

“Grilled cheese?” Lily said.

Emma nodded hard. “They had chips too, but I ate those.”

That got the smallest twitch at Lily’s mouth. Daniel saw it and held onto it like a rail.

Emma climbed up onto the chair by the bed and set the tray down with both hands. She peeled the sandwich open. “The bread’s kind of squished.”

“That’s okay,” Lily said.

For a second nobody spoke. The monitor on the wall beeped in a flat, steady way.

Daniel stood near the foot of the bed. He kept his hands at his sides because every time he thought about touching Lily, he saw her flinch before he moved.

She watched him do it.

“Do you want one?” Emma asked Lily.

Lily looked at Daniel first, then back at Emma. “Maybe later.”

Emma nodded like that was a plan. “I can bring fries next time.”

Daniel let out a breath through his nose. Not a laugh, but close.

Lily’s eyes slid to him again. “She came all the time?”

Emma answered before he could. “Yep. I told her where the food was.”

Lily stared at her. “You did?”

“Yeah. And the radio.”

Daniel looked from one girl to the other. “How long?”

Emma frowned. “You said don’t count days.”

“I know.” He kept his voice low. “Tell me anyway.”

Lily’s fingers tightened on the blanket. “Six weeks.”

The number landed hard. Six weeks of bread. Six weeks of hiding. Six weeks of somebody choosing silence.

Emma leaned closer, elbow on the mattress. “I knew where the vent was because of the cold air.”

Lily blinked at that, then gave a short, rough sound that might have been a laugh if it had had more air in it.

Daniel saw the change in her face before it disappeared. Saw the guard lower by half an inch.

Emma smiled, then reached for the sandwich again. “See? It’s not poison.”

Lily’s eyes moved to Daniel.

“She told me you’d be mad,” Lily said.

Daniel went still.

Behind him, the hallway door opened. Voices came in with the squeak of a cart wheel. He didn’t turn.

“I’m here now,” he said. “That’s all.”

And Lily, still staring at him, said, “Then why did she tell me you didn’t want me?”