"Yeah," Michael continued quickly. "She asked me to find you. She was afraid you wouldn't come, so she told me to… exaggerate the situation a bit."
Silence.
Then I asked slowly,
"After she was injured… did you see her?"
"No. She called me," Michael admitted. "She said your phone wasn't working. Bro, this isn't on me. She was crying, saying she was scared you wouldn't care anymore. What was I supposed to do?"
"Do you know what day yesterday was?"
Of course, it had been Lilian's birthday.
But Michael knew that wasn't the answer I wanted.
Silence stretched over the line.
After a moment, his uneasy voice came through.
"Your… anniversary?" Michael guessed weakly.
"Yes."
He let out an awkward laugh.
"Well… what a coincidence. Everything just happened to fall on the same day…"
My voice remained calm.
"You didn't know this time, so I'll let it pass."
A pause.
"But apologize to Alicia when you see her."
"And don't let something like this happen again."
