Mrs. Alvarez would not accept money when Daniel worked overtime unexpectedly, although he repaired her appliances and carried heavy groceries upstairs whenever she needed help. He knocked to thank her anyway. She waved him off and told him to get inside before Lily started another chapter of the book she insisted on reading aloud to him.
Lily was awake in bed, surrounded by paper drawings. She saw him rubbing his feet and narrowed her eyes. "You walked a lot today." Daniel sat beside her.
"A little." She touched the worn leather of his work boot and asked if they could save up for shoes that did not make his feet hurt. He promised they would think about it after the next paycheck, and she accepted the answer without the slightest suggestion that she was owed something faster. On Tuesday morning, Daniel found Lily already at the kitchen table, carefully coloring the words on her history poster.
She had woken early because she was worried that the school might close for weather and delay the presentation. Daniel told her the forecast had cleared, then placed toast beside her drawing without asking her to put the pencils away. She had inherited Emily's concentration, the ability to become so absorbed in a task that the rest of the world lost its authority for a while. Watching her work steadied him more effectively than coffee.
"When did your company get big?" Lily asked without looking up. Daniel considered the question. There had been no single morning when the workshop transformed into a tower of glass.
The changes happened slowly, one contract, one employee, one new machine at a time, until the place he had known disappeared behind the place everyone else recognized. "A little bit every year," he told her. "People worked hard and made mistakes and tried again. That's usually how things grow."