David did sell his truck eventually.
Not because they were desperate.
Because it was old.
He bought a used sedan.
Ethan joked:
“You could’ve started a fundraiser.”
David said:
“I will end you.”
Family friendship restored.
One difficult truth emerged later.
Lily had resented Ethan sometimes.
She admitted it during a school project interview they did together about adolescent caregiving.
“When everyone praised him,” she said, “I felt like my cancer became his good deed.”
Ethan
looked shocked.
“You never said that.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because you were trying so hard.”
He looked hurt.
Lily continued:
“And because I loved the wig.”
“Then why resent me?”
“Because both.”
There it was again.
Both.
She loved what he did.
Hated being the reason everyone called him extraordinary.
Ethan took that hard.
For a week.
Then he asked:
“What should I have done differently?”
Lily thought.
“Asked me before the fundraiser.”
