Chapter 13 - Evan Learns Lily Saved Him
Evan avoided Lily for days.
He remembered only her hand.
The fall.
The water.
Fear did not disappear because adults explained camera angles.
A child therapist helped him reconstruct what happened.
Eventually, Evan watched only the safe portion of the footage.
The panel moving.
Lily running.
Her hand pushing him sideways.
Then the maintenance expert explained what likely would have happened if
Evan had leaned farther into the unsecured glass.
Evan looked at Lily.
“You pushed me.”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Did you mean for me to fall?”
“No.”
“Did you save me?”
Lily began crying.
“I tried.”
Evan walked toward her.
For a moment Daniel thought he might stop.
Instead, he hugged her.
Lily held him carefully.
Grace watched from the doorway.
She had been the one who actually pulled Evan from the pool.
But she understood rescue sometimes happened twice.
May you like
Once before the fall.
Once after.
