One evening, I finally asked her gently, “Why do you always bathe right away?”
Lily flashed a quick, almost too-perfect smile. “I just like to be clean,” she said.
Her answer should have comforted me. Instead, it left a quiet unease sitting in my chest. Lily was usually carefree and a little messy. That response didn’t sound like her—it sounded practiced.
About a week later, that uneasy feeling turned into something much worse.
