Page 16 of Sheltering Lily

“It’s okay to leave them. Maybe we can find a place to hang these.” I touched the animals dangling on strings. “Did you make them together?”

“We did. Sofia slept on the way home from Faith’s house, but as soon as we got back here, she was wide awake—not to mention bored and antsy. She had a lot of restless energy to work out. If we could have gone outside, it would have been all right.”

“She likes to be outside,” I said. Sofia had been like that since I’d known her.

“Children should get fresh air. It just makes it tough when we’re stuck indoors, so we did some art.”

“It looks nice. We’ll leave it.”

She turned wide eyes on me. “Colin, you don’t mean that.”

“I can be flexible,” I said, “and if it makes Sofia happy, I can learn to live with animals on the windows.”

“You’ll wince every time you look at them,” she teased. “And as much as I appreciate the fact that you’re willing to leave them, I think it’s best if we take them down. They’ll be more special if we only get them out during playtime, and I don’t want to take the chance that Sofia will put them in her mouth.”

“If you think that’s best. I’ll get a tub from the shed to store them in,” I said and headed through the kitchen.

I paused as I approached the back door. It stood open a few inches. The storm door was closed but not locked. What was that about? I scanned the backyard. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but I was irked. All my protectiveness kicked in. I’d sworn to Sofia’s mother that I’d keep Sofia safe. Beyond that, I loved my little girl as much as any father could—and she’d been put at risk that day.

They’d been asleep in an unlocked house, completely vulnerable. How could Lily be so careless? In the yard, I spotted footprints in the wet soil. Not mine, and too big to be Lily’s. Someone had been there. I took the path to Lily’s apartment and tried the door. Locked. That was good, at least, but I had some questions for her.

Had she invited a guest over? How long had the door been open?

I stalked across the yard to the shed and found a storage bin the right size. I took a minute to write Sofia’s Art on the label before returning to the house. I left the box in the kitchen and did a sweep of the house, looking for anything unusual, any sign of an intruder. Nothing turned up, but I couldn’t shake my concern.

“Did you invite anyone over today?” I asked as soon as I re-entered the house.

“No.” Surprise showed on her face. “Why?”

“The back door was open, and footprints I don’t recognize were in the yard. Looked like a man’s.” I watched her face closely. I didn’t think she was involved with anyone, but I didn’t know that for certain.

“I can’t explain the footprints, but I did run to my apartment to get some art supplies,” she said. She spoke slowly as if replaying the event in her mind. “I could swear I closed and locked the door—I always do. I’m sorry about that. I’ll be more cautious.”

She was telling the truth, I decided with relief. I’d had plenty of training in determining if people were lying while being questioned. She showed none of the signs, and I had no reason to distrust her. I was also relieved that she immediately took the situation seriously and promised to be more careful in the future. But the fact that she didn’t know anything about the footprints had me a little uneasy. Just what had someone been doing in my backyard, if he wasn’t someone Lily had invited? And was I being paranoid to think it might have something to do with the mystery car I’d seen twice now?

8

LILY

“Time to say night-night to Daddy,” I whispered to Sofia when Colin walked into the living room on Saturday evening. He had another date, a different woman from last week and one I knew this time, but that didn’t make it any easier to watch him go out the door to be with someone else.

“Okay?” He gestured to his outfit. He wore khakis and an open-collared white Oxford, both perfectly pressed, with a light blue cashmere V-neck sweater.

“Fine,” I said. Perfect, actually. I bit back a sigh. The week had done nothing to take the edge off my interest in him. Not one thing. Fortunately, we hadn’t spent much time together. Except last night when he’d walked in and caught me napping on the floor with Sofia. I’d seen something in his eyes when he looked at me then, but, of course, he hadn’t acted on it and neither had I.

He took Sofia from me and held her close for a minute. “Daddy loves you, sweetheart,” he said into her freshly washed hair. “Be good for Lily and go right to sleep.”

When he handed Sofia back, I felt I had to say something about his date. “I think you and Haley will really hit it off. You’ll complement each other.” They weren’t exactly like each other, but I actually thought that might be for the best. Maybe Colin could use someone who was different enough from him to bring a new perspective into his life. And they were similar enough in the ways that really mattered. “She’s lovely, with a warm personality, and I know she wants kids. She’s told me that before.”

Haley was a friend from high school who I had kept in touch with and who had ended up in Springwell, also. The curvy blonde was an accountant with a local firm. She was exactly what Colin wanted. Steady, committed to staying, good natured, and with a great income. Not that he’d actually said he was looking for someone with money, but I got the sense that he respected people who had built good careers for themselves. He could do a lot worse, my rational side argued while my selfish, jealous side hoped they’d despise each other and the experience would be so bad that he’d refuse to ever date again. Because, whether I liked admitting it to myself or not, I did not want to witness him in a happy relationship or, worse, married. I’d have to leave once any sign suggested he was headed toward those eventualities. It would be hard to go, hard to leave Sofia in the care of someone else, but harder still to see him with another woman. Besides, there was no telling whether the woman he ended up with would be comfortable with having another woman living in the house. Once he was married, he’d probably want to go back to just having a nanny during the days rather than someone full time and live-in.

“Good,” he said briskly as if he—understandably—was unwilling to discuss his and his date’s compatibility. “Make sure you lock all the doors after I leave. All of them.”

“I will. I promise.” I still felt bad about leaving the door unlocked, but Colin’s intensity when he brought it up seemed a little out of character. I considered asking what was behind his concern. An open door and a footprint didn’t seem like reasons for doubling down on home security. Was there something more going on that I didn’t know about?

“Dada.” Sofia held out her arms to her father again, taking away any opportunity to ask questions. He gave Sofia one last hug, avoiding any physical contact with me, before going out the door.

As soon as he was out, I turned the deadbolt to guarantee he heard the click. Still carrying Sofia, I walked through the house to check the back door. Already locked tight. Something about checking the doors reminded me of back when I was in my old apartment. I’d always double-checked the locks back then because having that creep John so close by had me anxious. But there was no reason to be anxious here…was there?

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