Page 19 of Second Chance

“Are you okay?” she asks, and then says, “Mm-hm, yeah,” as Lily answers.

Tony’s uncomfortably aware he’s standing on the landing, listening in on his little sister’s phone call, but he can’t quite make himself leave. The dismissive look she gave him—as if he was waiting for her to let him leave the house when he’s the one who offered to babysit—gnaws at him.

Behind the door, he hears the telltale sound of Lia fussing.

“Hey, hang on a sec. I need to put you on speaker,” Gianna says. After a beep comes the clatter of the phone being set down, and then Lily’s tinny voice fills the air, interspersed with Lia’s cries.

“It was nuts, G. There was so much…so much blood. I don’t even…”

“Shh, baby girl, shh,” Gianna says to Lia, and then to Lily, “That sounds really scary.”

Lia cries out again, swallowing half of Lily’s answer.

“…you think she’ll be okay?”

“I don’t know. Will you?”

Lily sighs heavily, a crackle in the phone’s speaker. “Sean’s coming over. He says he can help.”

The hubris of a man in his early twenties to think his presence (or his dick) can solve this particular problem. Apparently, Gianna agrees.

“You sure that’s what you need right now?”

“Yeah.” Lily’s voice sounds more even, sure. “Yeah, it’ll get me out of my head. Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Come on, Gianna. A professor getting attacked? It’s…”

“It’s not the same. Last year…he wasn’t on campus, and he was shot, not stabbed. It’s awful, but at least it’s nothing to do with me.”

Tony’s breath catches in his throat. He never thought about it in that way, but Gianna’s not wrong. Stacy did what she did out of some misguided desire to avenge Gianna. He never considered Gianna might feel guilty.

She shouldn’t, of course, but he can hardly break down the door and tell her so.

It’s a moment before Lily responds. “I’m having a hard time remembering it’s nothing to do with me.”

“Shit, yeah. Well, you found her. But it’s not the same. You didn’t have arelationshipwith her.”

“I went to her office hours.”

“But not like with…”

“No, nothing like with him.”

Gianna nears the door, and Tony freezes at the sound of her footsteps. She walks away again. She must be rocking Lia to keep her quiet. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“Me too. And seriously, if you need someone to talk…”

Daniel is right about Lily. She’s a sweetheart.

“You, too, okay? I know you have Sean, but he’s…”

“Yeah, he’s not much of a talker. About this stuff anyway.” Lily laughs. “But hey, you’ve got your family, too, right?”

Tony doesn’t need to break down the door to know Gianna’s rolling her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. They’re all here. They don’t get it, but they’re here.”

They don’t get it. Of course they don’t. When has Gianna ever given them the chance to? She’s said more to Lily about Mario in the last two minutes than she’s said to him all year. Tony turns and sneaks down the stairs. For a moment, he considers waiting around for her to get off the phone and then trying to talk to her again, but apparently, hedoesn’t get it, so why would she? Before he knows he’s going to do it, Tony pulls on his sneakers and heads for his car.

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