I looked at him.
“Where were your hands?”
His face changed.
Just for a second.
“What?”
“When Lily fell. Where were your hands?”
Ryan blinked.
“I was trying to grab her.”
“You were trying to grab her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she say she felt both your hands on her back?”
The hallway became silent.
Ryan looked toward the officer.
“See? This is what I mean. She’s confused.”
Confused.
Again.
That word.
The same word my daughter used.
I stepped closer.
“Don’t call my daughter confused.”
“I’m not attacking her.”
“You’re doing exactly that.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“Daniel, you know how emotional Lily can get.”
I felt something inside me snap.
Because that was the excuse people had always used.
Too sensitive.
Too dramatic.
Too emotional.
Words that sounded harmless until they were used to make someone’s truth disappear.
I walked away before I said something I would regret.
