I held her so hard I had to remind myself to loosen my grip.
“I’m here,” I told her.
She buried her face against me.
Then she asked the question that changed everything.
“Why didn’t Aunt Megan come back?”
I pulled back enough to see her face.
“What do you mean?”
Lily wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.
She said Megan had told her to wait by the blue bench.
I wanted to ask twenty questions at once, but I knew Lily was frightened, thirsty, and exhausted.
I gave her water from the bottle in my purse.
I wrapped my cardigan around her shoulders.
Then I asked her to tell me only what she remembered.
She said she and Megan had argued near the frozen-food aisle.
Lily had wanted to call me.
Megan had become angry.
According to Lily, Megan pointed toward the bench and told her, “Stay there until you learn to listen.”
