A cafeteria worker named Elena Ruiz explained that Lily had helped her shut off a damaged valve before the gas reached open flames in the kitchen. The principal admitted that Lily’s decision to pull the alarm without permission had probably prevented a mass-casualty disaster.

Lily listened with visible discomfort. “I only did what anybody would do,” she kept saying.

“No,” Daniel told her after the final visitor left. “You did what everyone hopes they would do.”

Chapter 8 — Apologies That Aren’t

On the third day, Senator Chase held a press conference outside the hospital. She praised Lily but refused to discuss Patricia or Scott. “This should be about a young woman’s courage,” she said, “not about adults trying to borrow attention from it.”

The statement ran in newspapers nationwide.

That afternoon, Scott finally sent an apology. It stretched across six paragraphs. He explained that he had been stressed, that the restaurant was struggling, that Daniel often made situations sound worse than they were, and that he had not expected reporters to get involved.