DANIEL'S POV
There's something about watching Lily smile that feels like winning a battle I didn't even know I was fighting.
Not the kind of smile people practice in mirrors. Not the tight-lipped ones she wore like armor in boardrooms, or the vague ones she gave when someone complimented her outfit and she didn't know how to respond. No, the smile I saw today was different.
It was real.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
The kind that starts in the gut and works its way out until her eyes crinkle at the corners and her chest shakes a little with the force of it. The kind of laugh that comes when something touches a place you thought had gone cold.
And I caused it.
We were walking past this artsy little vendor tucked between a honey stand and a flower stall. They had handcrafted chocolates and jars of flavored jam—odd stuff like lavender and chili, mango and black pepper, and then garlic and elderberry.
