May I (Lie To Me) | ✔

VSD

Sophie didn't stay asleep that long. Thirty-five minutes to be exact. Her cries began to escalate as Gillian got out of the car. The whimpers muffled as she closed the door, and we're just as loud as before when she opened the back door to get her out. Sophie held on tightly to her blanket; her arms wrapped around Gillian's neck.

As she turned around, an elderly couple came around the corner. She recognized them as Ed and Tina: her neighbor's from down the street. There was something about remembering faces and voices, because she had only met them a few times since moving here.

"Hello, Gillian. Who do we have here?" Tina inquired pleasantly, as they walked up to the driveway. Sophie didn't seem to agree with their closeness and buried her head into her shoulder.

"This is Sophie."

"Sophie. She reminds me of our youngest granddaughter." Ed chimed in, wrapping his arm around his wife. "She was a little shy of strangers, until she got a little older.

"We're actually going to see her a little later tonight." Tina added in excitedly."How have you been doing? We haven't seen you around lately."

Closing the car door, Gillian shifted Sophie onto her hip. "I've been keeping busy with work. How are you doing?"

"We're doing well." She leaned into her husband, with a big grin on her face. From what Gillian remembered, Ed and Tina had been married for almost forty years. Just seeing them together, made Gillian think about what it would be like to settle down.

"We're trying to get a walk in, before we go over to see our daughter and her family."

"Good. I'm glad that things are going well." Gillian nodded, trying to be polite. At the same time, it was talking everything she had to stay upright, while holding Sophie. The doctor had warned her that she would probably feel a little weak and shaky after the car accident.

"Anyway—we'll let you get back to what you were doing." Tina concluded, leaning into her husband." We just wanted to stop by and say hi." Slowly, they walked back to down the sidewalk. With his bald head and the way he was built, Ed looked like a tower compared to his wife. However, the way they looked at each other; it was clear they were still madly in love.

"Thanks for stopping by."

"Let us know if there's anything that we can do."

"I will." Watching them disappear down the street, Gillian tried to put Sophie on the ground, but she held onto her tighter. With a groan they headed into the house, almost forgetting to lock the car door on the way in.

Sophie finally let go, toddling over to the doll that Ryan had left here; she hugged it, just like she did when she had first arrived. Sighing, Gillian sat there and watched her as she played for a few minutes and then pulled out her phone.

On the third ring, she heard his voice on the other end. "And I was starting to think you would never call." Truthfully, she never thought she would call either. In fact, it was like her fingers had a mind of her own at the moment.

"She loves the doll."

"You may be the only lie expert in the family, but that's not all you called to say, was it?" She could hear the happiness, almost teasing voice of her older brother. It some ways, she felt a slight wave of relief that she had someone to talk to. As much as she loved talking to Ava, they had done a lot of talking recently. And Cal was not an option, even if she could talk to him right now. "Don't answer that, because I know you won't." Ryan cut her off, before she could say anything. "Besides, you were never good at asking for help and wanted to do everything yourself. You never seemed to need protection—you were always fearless."