Two quick taps were all the warning Lily had before her mom let herself right into her bedroom. She sighed, popping out her earbuds as she spun to face her. There was no point reminding her to wait, no matter how many times Lily did she just kept letting herself in. There was a lock, but Lily only used it when she was serious about being left alone. The pent up stress at the thought of Lily potentially being upset was too much for her mom to process. She helicoptered twice as hard when she finally would emerge.

That didn't stop Lily from being annoyed by it. Her mom's eyes danced to the furrow in her brow.

"Sorry," she led with, though she was never sorry enough to stop. "Is that what you're wearing? With guests?"

Lily frowned harder and couldn't stop herself glancing at her baggy jeans and sweater. "What's wrong with this?"

"They're guests."

"You said this was no big deal."

Her lips thinned for a moment, and Lily could tell she was carefully choosing her words. "And it's not, but what message does it send to show up dressed like it's a Saturday?"

Lily squeezed her eyes shut to keep from rolling them at her as she took a long breath, then another. "I'll change my sweater, but that's it."

"Maybe run a comb through your hair, too?"

"Fine." She cut her sigh short. "What time is dinner?"

"Six, but I want you downstairs at quarter to to help us set the table, all right?"

"'Kay."

She started for the door, but doubled back to kiss the top of Lily's head. Lily cringed and grinned. When she was gone, Lily resumed her music and rifled through her closet for something nicer, but still not nice. Either this was a big deal, or it wasn't, it couldn't be both ways. If she said it wasn't, then Lily was going with that. She settled on a tie-dye tee shirt that, while still big, was less of a dress and wasn't riddled with holes. Okay, so it wasn't much nicer than the sweater, but she was loath to dress up for the sake of strangers.

Besides, she still had no idea who these people were or why they were coming over. Dad just kept saying that they were having some acquaintances over for dinner. Neither had said who they were. Sure, it was a little fishy, but Lily wasn't very concerned.

At least, she didn't think she was. As the afternoon drew on, though, she caught herself jumping at every car that passed outside and straining to hear anything out of the ordinary in the lulls in her music Her homework was getting just about nowhere.

Lily groaned and slammed her textbook shut. Her momentum had been so good, too, she only had three problems left in math, but she couldn't focus. Instead, she did as was asked and tried to comb her short waves into something resembling tidy. It didn't help much.

At five-thirty, she could take sitting around no longer. Nothing on social media was holding her attention and she was anxious to move. The carpeted stairs absorbed her footsteps, and she knew just where to step to avoid the creaky boards beneath. Soft conversation not meant for her ears piqued her interest. She paused halfway down and sunk to a crouch, bracing herself on the banister. Their voices were as clear as if she was standing just outside the kitchen doorway.

"I'm just saying, what if it happens? What then?" Mom's whisper was strained.

"That won't happen. She's not going anywhere."

"You don't know that, what if she wants to?"

Dad sighed the way he did when he was repeating himself for the umpteenth time. "Then we will discuss it as a family."

He put a weird strain on the word, and for some reason, it seemed to appease her for a moment.

"I just don't want to lose her."

"We won't. But remember, it's not up to us. Whatever happens, it's not our decision."

"We're her parents," she hissed, startling Lily.

"We are." Fabric swished in a steady rhythm for a few seconds. "We have to trust him, he's a good man."

"How do you know?"

"They were good people, always were. It was a damn tragedy, but he's no less a good man."

He? Who were they talking about? She thought their guests were women. That's what they had told her, anyway.

Mom sighed in defeat. "You're right."

"Of course. You said yourself that Sam girl sounded lovely on the phone. If his intention is to come between us, why send someone else? We have to trust that he has her, and our best interests at heart like he says."

Lily couldn't make heads or tails of their conversation. Where did this "he" come from all of a sudden? What did he want? How did he know them? And above all, what did this Sam person want with her? She could only assume they were talking about her. It would explain their forced normalcy around her all week, especially today. Something unusual was happening, but she didn't know what.

Before they could catch her eavesdropping, Lily climbed back to the top of the stairs and intentionally hit a couple of the squeaky spots in the steps on her way down. There came the soft shuffle of composure being sought in the moments before she entered. Lily forced nonchalance on her way to the cupboard.

"How many guests are coming?" she asked, knowing full well it was two.

"Two, dear. Please tell me that's not-"

"Yes, mom, it is."

Lily took down five plates and brought them into the dining room before she could protest further. Knowing they were keeping something from her made the reactionary guilt for displeasing her lessen. A fresh bouquet dominated the centre of the table. The perfume was heavy in the air, even with the delicious aroma of the roast in the oven just around the corner.

Lily's hands quaked, and she had to set the stack down before she broke the whole thing. She had to set each out with both hands to keep from thumping it at least once on the place mat. Their little table seemed cluttered with so many settings. Even fetching two more wine glasses felt bizarre.

It's not like they hadn't had guests before; in fact, they had them quite often. Mom's book club came over every other week for lunch, which Lily often spent observing at their insistence. She didn't mind, she got to try all the cheese trays they loved so much. Dad sometimes had work friends over, too. Entertaining was something her parents seemed to really enjoy.

This time was different. She didn't know why, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. For all the cheery smiles and light discussion going on, it wasn't doing much to mask the tension. She got tired of hovering around in it and went back upstairs, promising to be down shortly. She wouldn't be down until the doorbell rang, though, if she could get away with it.

Lily had five messages waiting for her when she finally checked her phone. Jen was stuck on the same math problem, which was a relief. Maybe it wasn't just the stress that had her stuck. She told Jen she couldn't help and reminded her of her night. Jen wasn't pleased. It was up to Lily most of the time to get them through the tough math problems, even though she was barely decent at it herself. Whatever, Jen could take a crack at it for once. Maybe she would figure out why the formula wasn't working for either of them before Lily was free again and she wouldn't have to.

Lily lost track of time trading messages with her and was delayed in noticing the soft purr of an engine approaching, but not receding. Lily flew out of bed and to the window. There was an older blue car that didn't belong in the row outside, flecked with salt and muck from a long drive. Entirely unlike the orderly, washed cars surrounding it. A head in the dark interior turned, and she ducked out of view at once. Her heart was in her throat.

It was a long time before she could process what she was feeling. Dread was a decent word for it but not quite right. For some reason, Lily simply didn't want to meet these people. At all.

"Lily? Come down, quickly." Her dad's voice was a parody of calm that only affirmed her discomfort.

Three deep breaths did little to calm her heart or her trembling limbs. As she passed her nightstand, she scooped up her inhaler and tucked it in her pocket, just in case.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, mom drew her into a one-armed hug that made her shoulder pop. She murmured an apology.

"Remember, these are nice people. They're friends of a friend of ours. Whatever you do, please behave yourself."

Her favourite line of late. This time, Lily didn't hide her eye roll, earning an exasperated groan. In any case, she agreed.

For all their talk of this not being a big deal, she was right in suspecting it was a lie. Dad had on his nicer glasses, and mom was wearing her favourite pearl earrings. This was serious.

The doorbell was falsely optimistic as it rent the silence. Mom released her to get the door. Cool wind brought in snow from outside. Lily could just see a bit of flaming red hair over her shoulder. Then she stepped back to let them in as they traded pleasantries and shook hands once the door was shut.

The first Lily had seen, with the red hair, had warm eyes and a warmer smile as she took in the foyer, then them. She didn't linger too long on any one thing. Behind her, a woman with pale hair and sharp eyes. Her dark makeup and many piercings were a distraction from the constant calculation in her stare. She did linger a second too long, sending a shiver up Lily's spine.

Then she was being gestured to, introduced without the chance to say it herself before mom moved on. Both turned to her with what she thought were kind smiles.

"I'm Sam," the redhead said to Lily first, offering her warm hand.

"Lily." It came out barely a murmur.

Sam took a deep breath, and her serene facade faltered for just an instant; she glanced to the other, eyes widening a fraction. All this in barely a heartbeat. She moved onto Lily's dad without missing a beat, but Lily was still shaken at being the focus there. Were they really here for her? Why?

"Ada." Those inscrutable eyes pierced her again as she curled her cold, willowy fingers around Lily's hand.

Again, a tense heartbeat in which she felt seen for much more than she was presenting. She wanted to shiver, to leave. Whatever was coming, she wanted no part of it.