Rex looked at her. He considered the question with the honesty it deserved, because at her maximum desire, Lily was many things; one consistent trait was that she asked questions directly, as she found indirectness exhausting.
"Yeah," he said.
The word landed in the alley between them, and Rex watched Lily's face do several things in the space of three seconds: something that hurt, something that was not surprise, and something that was working very hard to be the feeling she was going to choose to have about this rather than the feeling that had arrived first.
For a moment, she stared at the wall. After that, she turned to him again.
"She loves you," Lily said, and the way she said it made it clear that she had already known this and was not learning it now but was acknowledging it to him as something they both knew.
"I think so," Rex said.
"And you love her," Lily stated, indicating that it was not a question this time.
Rex held her eyes. "Yes," he said.
Another moment.
