Chapter 6 - LILY ASKED WHY RICH PEOPLE HAD SO MANY ROOMS
Lily met Matteo properly that summer.
Julian arranged a daytime picnic in the mansion garden with Sarah’s permission.
Lily arrived carrying a stuffed giraffe.
Matteo immediately tried to eat its ear.
“He likes it,” Lily announced.
“That is one interpretation,” Julian said.
Lily looked around the enormous property.
“Why do you need so many rooms?”
Julian froze.
Sarah almost laughed.
“I don’t.”
“Then why have them?”
“My grandfather liked large houses.”
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“So…”
Julian looked at Sarah helplessly.
She smiled.
“Good luck.”
By lunchtime, Lily had decided Julian was strange but acceptable.
She adored Matteo.
The baby, now nine months old, was different too.
Medical treatment helped.
So did routine.
So did being held by people who were not terrified of his crying.
Sarah trained two other caregivers.
She refused to become indispensable.
Julian noticed.
“Why are you teaching everyone your tricks?”
“Because your son needs stable care, not Sarah dependence.”
“What if I prefer Sarah dependence?”
She looked at him.
He smiled.
Then immediately became serious.
“Bad joke.”
“Yes.”
But something had changed between them.
Not romance yet.
Trust.
Julian respected her no.
Sarah began respecting his effort to ask.
Then Gary complicated everything again.
He arrived at Sarah’s apartment unannounced during her parenting time.
Saw a Morty security car waiting outside because Sarah was heading to work after Lily left for Mrs. Chen’s.
Gary started shouting.
“You’re raising my daughter around criminals!”
Lily heard.
Sarah stepped between them.
“Leave.”
Gary refused.
Mrs. Chen opened her door.
Witness.
Gary lowered his voice.
Good.
Sarah documented the incident through the proper parenting communication app.
No dramatic retaliation.
At the next family-court conference, Gary’s attorney tried to use Julian again.
The evaluator instead focused on Gary repeatedly violating communication boundaries.
Then came a discovery request for income records.
Gary had omitted nearly $38,000 in annual performance bonuses from previous disclosures.
His explanation:
Variable compensation.
The court disagreed that variable meant irrelevant.
Support was recalculated.
Not ruinous.
Fairer.
Sarah’s financial pressure eased.
And something else happened.
She no longer needed Julian’s job to “save” her custody case.
She was simply good at it.
May you like
That distinction restored something inside her.
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