“Okay… okay… okay…” I whispered under my breath. The door to Lila’s room was slightly open. Just enough to see.
Daniel reached into his wallet and pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill. “I mean it. Take this and keep it a secret.”
Lila frowned a little.
“Daniel… I don’t—”
“It’s nothing bad,” he said quickly. “I promise. I just need you to trust me on this.”
Trust.
That word didn’t sit right. “…Okay,” Lila said quietly. I quickly stepped back before the floor could creak under my weight and walked to the kitchen.
Dinner that night felt like one of those polite small-town potlucks where everybody smiles, and nobody says what they’re really thinking. Daniel talked about work. Lila mentioned a test at school.
I stirred the pasta. Lila barely met my eyes. And when she did, it was quick.
Okay… okay… okay…
I told myself I’d ask her later. Just the two of us. I definitely didn’t want to corner Lila while Daniel was still in the house.
Not make her choose sides. So I waited. The next morning, Daniel left early for a two-day business trip.
Lila left for school not long after. The house went quiet. I stood there with my coffee, staring at nothing, replaying Daniel’s voice in my head.
Take this and keep it a secret. All day, I tried to make sense of it.
