Ethan disagreed.
Lily negotiated.
“Just one.”
“No.”
“A small one.”
“No.”
“A pony.”
“That is still a horse.”
“A miniature horse.”
“You have been researching loopholes.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked impressed.
“That part I respect.”
They eventually compromised on a dog.
Lily named him Winston.
He was a rescue mutt with enormous ears and almost no understanding of personal boundaries.
Within three days, Winston had destroyed one shoe.
Lily brought the remains into the kitchen.
She looked at Ethan.
He looked at the shoe.
Then at Winston.
The dog wagged his tail.
Lily started laughing.
Ethan did too.
It was the first time a damaged shoe had been funny in a very long time.
Almost a year after Ethan came home early, Lily walked into his study carrying a black object.
For one terrifying second, he thought it was a shoe.
It was not.
It was a small notebook.
“What’s that?”
“My story.”
“You wrote a story?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Six pages.”
Ethan looked impressed.
“That’s longer than some reports my executives send me.”
“Mine has dragons.”
“Already better.”
Lily climbed into the chair across from him.
“Will you read it?”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
He closed his laptop.
“Absolutely.”
The story was about a girl living in a castle.
An evil queen made everyone afraid.
The girl believed the king knew what the queen was doing.
But he did not.
Eventually the girl discovered a secret tunnel and escaped.
The king found her.
Together they rebuilt the castle.
Ethan reached the final page.
There was a drawing.
A little girl.
A man.
A dog with ears approximately the size of airplane wings.
Ethan smiled.
“I like Winston.”
“That’s not Winston.”
“It has his ears.”
“It’s a dragon.”
Ethan studied the drawing.
“Obviously.”
Lily watched him.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it.”
“Dr. Maya said stories can have things that happened and things that didn’t.”
“That’s true.”
“The girl isn’t me.”
“Okay.”
“And the king isn’t you.”
“Understood.”
“But if he was you, would you be mad?”
Ethan put the notebook down.
“No.”
“Because he didn’t know?”
“No.”
Lily looked at her hands.
“He feels bad that he didn’t know.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Does he?”
“Yes.”
“But the girl isn’t mad at him.”
Ethan’s eyes burned.
“Why not?”
“Because when he found out, he believed her.”
Ethan looked away for a second.
Then back.
“Sounds like a smart girl.”
“She is.”
“And an excellent dragon.”
Lily smiled.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“I knew you didn’t know.”
“What?”
“After.”
She shrugged.
“Before, I thought maybe you did.”
Ethan felt the old guilt return.
“But after you came home, I knew.”
“How?”
“Your face.”
He laughed softly.
“My face?”