“That one,” she breathed, her eyes shining. “That one is perfect.”
Mrs. Chen’s heart sank. Lily had unerringly chosen a special custom order, a masterpiece waiting for a client who was due to arrive in two hours. The price tag was seventy-five dollars. Mrs. Chen was frantically trying to formulate a sentence that would gently steer Lily toward a cupcake or a cookie without crushing her spirit when the door chime rang out again.
A man walked in, bringing with him a gust of the cooling afternoon air. He appeared to be in his late thirties, possessing dark hair and features that would have been strikingly handsome if they weren’t etched with exhaustion. He wore a tailored black coat over a charcoal shirt, yet his posture suggested a weariness that went deeper than his bones. He stepped politely in line behind Lily, respecting the queue, and Mrs. Chen noted that despite looking like he was lost in a grey fog of his own thoughts, his manners were impeccable.
“Excuse me one moment, sweetheart,” Mrs. Chen said to Lily. “Let me just help this gentleman, and then we will figure out the plan for your cake, okay?”
But Lily was already pivoting on her heel. As she turned, she looked up at the stranger with those disarming, serious eyes. She stared for a moment before speaking, her small voice cutting through the silence of the shop and making time stand still.
“Excuse me, sir,” Lily said. “Are you sad?”
The man blinked rapidly, startled out of his daze. “I… what?”
“You look sad,” Lily stated, not as a question but as a matter of fact. “My mama looks like that sometimes. When she is worried about money, or when she misses my daddy.”
“Are you missing someone?”
Mrs. Chen gasped and started to intervene. “I am so sorry, sir. Children can be so—”
But the man raised a hand to silence the apology. His expression, previously tight and guarded, softened in a way that shaved ten years off his face. He crouched down slowly until he was eye-level with the child.
“You know what?” he said softly. “I am a little sad. I am missing someone. How did you know?”
“Your eyes,” Lily explained simply. “They look lonely.”
The man exhaled a short breath that might have been a laugh, or perhaps a suppressed sob. “You are very perceptive,” he said. “What is your name?”
“Lily.”
“I’m Daniel,” he replied. “It is nice to meet you, Lily. What brings you to the bakery today?”…
Great