30, 40 people with an earshot, not pretending to be anywhere else. Marcus stood very still. The compass turned over once in his hand. He looked at her for a long moment, not unkindly, not with amusement or calculation, just looking like he was reading something carefully before answering. Then he said, "You know what you just did in front of the entire company?"
"I know. And you're okay with that?" "I'm terrified of it." She said. I did it anyway.
Something in his face shifted, quiet, irreversible, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud that you'd stopped expecting to move. Lily has strong opinions about milkshake flavor, he said. She's going to order chocolate and spend 12 minutes deliberating. I can work with that, Viv said. Saturday, he said seven Riverside.
She nodded and then from behind him she heard a small voice. Lily had apparently come to meet her father at the end of his shift. Was standing at the edge of the lobby with her backpack and her orange coat, watching this entire scene with the expression of someone who understood exactly what was happening. Daddy Lily said loudly across the lobby. Is she going to be your girlfriend?
Because I think you should say yes. She has really good posture. The lobby erupted. Laughter. Real laughter.
The kind that breaks a room open, rolling through 30 odd employees who'd been holding their breath. Marcus turned to look at his daughter with the expression of a man who loves someone unreservedly and is completely unable to maintain dignity around them. You're not helping, he told her. I'm helping, Lily said. Viv crossed the lobby and crouched down in front of the girl, not thinking about it, just doing it.
I was hoping you'd approve, she said. Lily studied her with those enormous dark eyes. Daddy smiles more when you're around, she said simply. I noticed. Viv felt something crack open in her chest, not painfully.
The way ice cracks open in spring. The way water finds its level. She looked up at Marcus, who was watching the two of them with an expression she hadn't seen on an adult face in a very long time. Saturday, she said again. Saturday, he confirmed.
Saturday was objectively the best evening Vivien Callaway had spent in 4 years. Lily ordered chocolate after 11 minutes of deliberation and made no apology for the process. She explained to Viv in extensive detail how a water cycle worked using the condensation on her milkshake glass as a demonstration. She asked Viv three questions that no adult would have asked. Do you have a cat?
What's your favorite color? And don't say I don't have one because everyone has one. And why does your voice sound different than it does in the building and waited for real answers? Viv said, "No cat, navy blue. And I think I'm a little more nervous here than I am at work."