“Then stop acting like there is.”
“I’m not.”
“You walked in here, looked at my daughter, and reacted like you’d seen a ghost.”
Stephen closed his eyes.
For one brief second, he looked exhausted.
Then he said, “Maybe I did.”
I folded my arms.
“Who do you think she is?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said you knew her.”
“I said I know her.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I’ve never met Lily before.”
I waited.
He didn’t continue.
“Stephen.”
“I need to leave.”
My disbelief turned cold.
“You don’t get to do that.”
His eyes met mine.
“Please.”
“No. You don’t walk into my home, frighten my daughter, say something cryptic, and then disappear.”
His jaw tightened.
“I don’t want to say something before I’m certain.”
“Certain of what?”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he asked a question I never expected.
“When exactly was Lily born?”
