Lily’s voice softened. “I think I want to meet her,” she said.
“Not because she earned it. Because I need to know.”
We wrote back. A week later, we met Emily at a small coffee shop.
She walked in thin and pale, a scarf over her head.
Her eyes were Lily’s.
Lily stood. “Emily?”
Emily nodded. “Lily.”
They sat across from each other, both shaking in different ways.
“You’re beautiful,” Emily said, voice cracking.
Lily touched her cheek.
“I look the same. This never changed.”
“I was wrong to let anyone tell me it made you less,” Emily said. “I was scared.
I let my parents decide. I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you come back?” Lily asked. “Why didn’t you fight them?”
Emily swallowed hard.
Continue reading…
