Lily turned her head.
For a split second she couldn’t move.
Then the sharp scream of brakes cut through the rain.
SCREEECH!
The car skidded forward, its tires sliding on the slick road.
Inside Margaret’s vehicle, someone gasped.
“Oh my God!”
The driver slammed the brakes too, watching in horror.
Lily’s heart pounded wildly. Somehow, by pure instinct, she jumped sideways just as the car finally stopped inches from where she had been standing.
The driver inside the approaching car stared out the windshield, pale and shaken.
For a moment, the entire street seemed frozen.
Then something unexpected happened.
A tall man who had been walking on the sidewalk behind the stopped car suddenly ran forward.
Without hesitation, he took off his raincoat and wrapped it gently around Lily’s shaking shoulders.
“You’re okay,” he said softly, lifting her into his arms so she wouldn’t slip again. “You’re safe now.”
Lily looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.
The warmth of the coat and the kindness in his voice made her chest tighten. For the first time since stepping out of the car, she felt like someone truly saw her.
Back in Margaret’s car, silence had replaced the earlier laughter.