Chapter 8: The Notch in the Ear
Six weeks later, Claire came to Lily's school play.
She sat two seats down from me in the third row, because Lily had assigned the seats herself and had placed Claire's name on a folded piece of paper on the chair.
Lily had not consulted me about this.
She had simply done it.
Rachel was there too, at the end of the row.
She and Claire had spoken — I knew that much.
The details were theirs.
The play was twenty-five minutes long and involved a dragon who turned out to be friendly and a princess who turned out to be the one who needed to rescue everyone else.
Lily played the royal messenger.
She had four lines and delivered all of them at full volume with complete conviction.
Afterward, in the school corridor, she ran to Claire first.
"Did you see me?" she demanded.
"I saw every second," Claire said.
"I was loud."
"You were perfect."
Lily considered this.
"I was a little loud."
"Messengers have to be loud," Claire said.
"How else does the message get through?"
Lily thought about this seriously.
"That's true," she said, and moved on to find her teacher.
Rachel appeared at my elbow.
"She's remarkable," she said, watching Lily.
"She is."
We stood quietly for a moment.
"I'm sorry," Rachel said.
"I know I've said it.
I want to keep saying it until it means something."
"It already means something," I said.
"You don't have to keep paying for it."
She looked at me.
Her eyes were the same shape as Claire's.
Not identical — I could see the differences now — but the same shape.
"How are you two?" she asked carefully.
I looked across the corridor to where Claire was talking to Lily's teacher.
She was laughing at something the teacher had said.
Her hand came up to tuck her hair behind her left ear.
No notch.
I had stopped noticing its absence weeks ago.
"We're taking it slowly," I said.
"She has another scan next month.
We're waiting to see."
"And if the scan is good?"
"Then we take the next step."
"Which is?"
I smiled.
"That's between me and Claire."
Rachel accepted this with a small nod.
Lily reappeared and grabbed both my hand and Rachel's simultaneously, pulling us toward the refreshment table with the focused energy of a child who has spotted the biscuits.
Claire joined us a moment later.
She stood beside me, close but not touching, in the way of two people who are being careful with something they don't want to break.
Then Lily, both hands full of biscuits, looked up at Claire.
"You're coming for dinner, right?" she said.
"I already told Daddy you were coming."
Claire looked at me.
"She did tell me," I confirmed.
"Lily," Claire said carefully.
"You should ask before you—"
"I'm asking now," Lily said.
"Are you coming?"
Claire was quiet for a moment.
"Yes," she said.
"I'm coming."
Lily nodded, satisfied, and turned back to the biscuits.
Claire's hand found mine, briefly, and then let go.
May you like
But for those few seconds, her fingers were warm.
And I held on.
