"You don't need to apologize to me."
"I kept thinking he might fire you. Then I kept thinking he might fire me if I joined you." Priya sat beside her and stared at the scuff on her shoe. "And I hated myself a little for how easy it was to stay quiet."
Lily thought about Margaret standing alone on the sidewalk. "I almost stayed quiet, too."
"You didn't."
"I may find out tomorrow whether that was smart."
Priya reached across and squeezed her hand. "If he writes you up, I'll tell whoever asks what I saw. I don't know if it'll matter, but I'll tell them."
It was a small promise, and perhaps the first time Priya had openly disagreed with Brad since beginning work there. Lily accepted it without making her friend feel guilty for not doing more. Both of them were young, both were worried about money, and both were discovering how easily a beautiful workplace could become frightening when the person in charge treated obedience as the highest virtue.
When Lily finally reached home, the hallway light outside her apartment was broken again. She climbed three flights of stairs carrying her shoes in one hand, unlocked the door quietly, and found Owen at the kitchen table under the one light bright enough for homework. He had fallen asleep with his cheek against his science notebook, a small electric motor and scattered wires arranged carefully beside him.
She put her bag down without making a sound. Owen stirred anyway, lifting his head and blinking at her. "You said you'd be home by ten."
"It was a strange night," she said. "Did you eat the pasta I left?"
"All of it. You should've kept some for yourself." He rubbed his eyes. "I got an A on my project. Did you see the picture?"
"I saw. I was so proud I nearly told the entire dining room."
Owen smiled sleepily. He wore their mother's old college sweatshirt, far too big when she died and now almost the right size. He pushed the notebook toward Lily to show her the teacher's comments, then noticed the way she lowered herself into the chair as if her legs could barely hold her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm tired, that's all."
He studied her with an expression that looked painfully like their mother's. "Did your boss yell again?"
Lily did not want to teach him that work was supposed to make people afraid. She also did not want to teach him that lies were the easiest way to protect someone you loved. So she told him enough of the truth: an elderly woman had been treated unfairly, and Lily had tried to help. She left out the threat about her schedule until she could decide what it might mean.
Owen listened without interrupting. "Mom would have helped her," he said finally.
Lily looked at him. "Yes. She would have."
"Then you did the right thing."