Chapter 14 - The Road Back North
Ten years after Daniel stopped on Interstate 75, Lily received an envelope from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She refused to open it.
“You open it,” she told Daniel.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s yours.”
“What if it says no?”
“Then it says no.”
“I hate your emotional maturity.”
“Your mother trained me.”
Emily shouted from the kitchen, “I heard that.”
Maddie, now ten, grabbed the envelope.
“I’ll open it.”
Lily tackled her.
Eventually Lily tore it herself.
She read.
Stopped.
Read again.
Then screamed.
Accepted.
Aerospace engineering.
Daniel cried.
Emily cried.
Jonathan cried when they called.
Maddie demanded Lily take her to space.
That summer, before Lily left Ohio, she asked Daniel to drive the old highway.
They stopped at the rest area.
The interstate roared beyond the barrier.
“I remember your headlights,” Lily said.
Daniel looked at her.
“I remember thinking you looked expensive.”
He laughed.
“What does expensive look like?”
“Stupid coat.”
“That coat saved Maddie from gravel.”
“It was still stupid.”
They stood quietly.
“Do you ever think about driving past?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because I used to think if you hadn’t stopped, everything would have ended.”
Daniel said nothing.
Lily continued.
“But Mom had already hidden the card. Brooks was already investigating missing people. Other women knew things. Maybe somebody else would have stopped.”
“Maybe.”
Lily looked at him.
“You weren’t destiny.”
Daniel smiled.
“No.”
“You were a choice.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
She hugged him.
“That’s better.”
Before leaving, Lily placed a new emergency triangle in Daniel’s trunk.
His old one—the one Sarah bought—had finally cracked.
Daniel stared at the replacement.
“You bought this?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Practical love.”
He almost lost control of himself.
Sarah’s phrase.
Lily had heard the story.
She smiled.
May you like
“Don’t cry. It’s embarrassing.”
Daniel hugged her anyway.
