"Don't bring the suits. " He called Lily on the drive home. She picked up on the second ring. "Dad, did you actually eat lunch? " "Divine lunch," he said. "Oh my god. " There was a granola bar. A granola bar is not lunch.
Dad, you're 42. 42 is not old. It's old enough to eat lunch. He could hear her moving around the kitchen, the sound of the refrigerator opening. I'm making pasta.
Don't stop at McDonald's. I wasn't going to. You always stop at McDonald's when you think I'm not going to ask. He laughed. Actually laughed.
And the sound of it surprised him how easily it came when it was just Lily. Hey, I need to talk to you about something when I get home. A pause. What kind of something? Nothing bad, just something unexpected happened today.
Unexpected, good or unexpected, you need to sit down. He thought about a woman in a designer blazer standing in a condemned school building asking a question that no rational person would ever ask. Both, he said. Definitely both. He got home at 5:40.
The apartment was small, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen that connected directly to the living room with nothing separating them except a counter. He'd moved here 4 years ago when the mortgage on their old house became impossible after Clare died. He'd told Lily it was temporary. They both knew it wasn't, but Lily had made it into something. She had art on the walls, her own drawings, mostly framed in dollar store frames that she'd spray painted gold.
She had a bookshelf overflowing in the living room corner. She had a small clay pot on the window sill with a succulent in it that she'd named Gerald and talked to sometimes when she thought Marcus wasn't listening. It was a real home because she made it one. Marcus showered fast and changed. Lily had pasta ready, plain with butter and parmesan the way he liked it.
And she sat across from him at the kitchen table with her arms folded and her eyes steady on his face. And she said, "Talk. " So he talked. He kept it simple. He told her about the school, about the woman, about the foundation and the 27 schools and what would happen to them if the board meeting went wrong tomorrow. He did not tell her about the marriage part yet.
He got up to that fence and stopped. Lily watched him stop. Dad, what aren't you saying? He looked at his pasta, looked at her. She asked me to marry her, he said.
Lily blinked. Fake marry her. Marcus clarified quickly. Legal marriage temporary. It's complicated.
Lily said nothing for a very long time. She was looking at her own plate. Her fork was still. How temporary? She finally said year at most.
Maybe six months and she'd be here living here. I imagine there would be arrangements. Dad. Lily looked up. Is she nice?
He thought about the woman standing in the broken room handing him a legal document, saying I recognize how this sounds. Thought about the way she'd said okay when he told her she had to meet Lily first. Not argued, not negotiated, just okay. I don't know yet, he said honestly. That's why she's coming here tonight.
Lily's eyes went wide. Tonight, Dad, I'm in my school clothes. The apartment is The apartment is fine, Lily. The apartment is not fine. There are dishes in the sink.
Then let's do the dishes, Marcus said. Done. Sophia arrived at 6:25, not 6:30, 5 minutes early, which Marcus noted. She was wearing dark slacks and a simple blouse, no blazer. She'd listened.
She was carrying a small white paper bag and she held it out when Marcus opened the door. "Lily likes lemon," she said. "I had someone find out. " Marcus stared at the bag, looked up at her. "You had someone find out what kind of baked goods my daughter likes? " "I had 2 hours," Sophia said. "I use them. " "That is either very thoughtful or slightly terrifying. " Probably both, she admitted.
He stepped aside and let her in. Lily was in the living room sitting on the couch with her homework spread across the coffee table wearing a clean sweatshirt that she'd put on approximately 45 minutes ago. She looked up when Sophia came in and her face did something complicated. Because Lily knew that face. "You're the lady from the news," Lily said.
"The school lady? " "Yes," Sophia said. "I've seen you on TV. I've seen you too, Sophia said. In a photo your father keeps on his phone. The one from your school play last year.
You were the narrator. Lily looked at her father. Marcus shrugged slightly. He hadn't known that was on his phone. He'd forgotten he'd taken it.
"I have something for you," Sophia said and held out the bag. Lily took it carefully, opened it, looked inside. Lemon bars wrapped in wax paper from a bakery Marcus had never heard of. Lily looked up at the woman. "How did you know I like lemon? " Lily asked.
Sophia was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "I asked your father's neighbor, Mrs. Patterson. " She said, "You always pick the lemon ones from the church bake sale. " Lily looked at Marcus again. Marcus looked at the ceiling. "Mrs.