Then, he took a bite. To his surprise, it was a winner. He dug in.

Lilah's face Lit up in a victorious grin.

“It's yummy," chirped Jerrold.

Gerard could only marvel, a tad bemused.

Jerrold's obvious bias toward Lilah never ceased to amuse him.

Once breakfast wrapped up, Lilah excused herself, and Gerard seized the chance for a little chat with his son. "Did you forget our chat from last night?" he probed gently.

Those huge eyes of Jerrold's blinked back at him.

"What was our little talk about, buddy?"

A lightbulb moment.

Jerrold swiped Gerard's phone off the table.

By the time Lilah was back, Jerrold was on a mission, phone in hand and hope in his eyes. “Lilah, can I jot down your number?"

With a face like that, who could say no?

“Absolutely! Here you go." Lilah punched in her digits, handing the phone back with a chuckle. It took a moment, but it hit her: she'd just saved her number on Gerard's phone.

“Ready to roll?" Gerard asked, getting up. “I can drop you at the office."

"I can manage," Lilah countered.

"It's on my route." Gerard wouldn't budge.

Feeling cornered, she agreed with a nod.

The car ride was a silent theater of her thoughts, mainly about those social media snapshots.

After Jerrold was safely at his kindergarten, she gathered the courage to ask, “Did the Phillips family ram into your car last night, Mr. Harris?"

“Yep," he answered, his face stoic.

Sensing her lingering curiosity, he added, "I did it for you."

Lilah's heart missed a beat.

“That's a special edition car, right?"

“I've got a bunch of those back home," he replied with a shrug.