was the first time I saw Lily run.
Really run.
Not hurry because someone told her to.
Not move quickly to avoid being scolded.
Run.
Her curls bounced behind her as she chased Owen across the grass, both of them shrieking with laughter while Nathan pretended to be too slow to catch them.
Marco stood beside me near a bench, holding a paper bag of sandwiches.
“You’re smiling,” he said.
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Don’t make it strange.”
“It’s already strange.”
I glanced at him.
He nodded toward the children. “Good strange.”
Owen tripped and fell, palms first into the grass.
Everyone froze for half a beat.
Then Nathan walked over calmly. “You okay, buddy?”
Owen looked at his hands.
No blood.
No tears.
He looked at Nathan. Then at me.
“I fell.”
“I saw,” Nathan said.
“Am I in trouble?”
Nathan sat down in the grass beside him. “
