She handed it to him.
Ray didn't take it.
"Keep it."
"I thought you wanted it."
"I thought I did."
He pushed it gently back toward her.
"Maybe I don't anymore."
Maya frowned.
"Why?"
Ray looked at the flower.
"Because she would've liked you."
Maya didn't know what that meant.
"Who?"
"Lily."
He smiled.
"You laughed when I talked about her."
"I wasn't laughing at her."
"I know."
He looked at the bandana.
"That's why."
Over the next few weeks, Ray became part of the diner.
Not officially.
But everyone expected him.
Tuesday.
2:15.
Same booth.
Black coffee.
No sugar.
Sometimes he ate.
Sometimes he only drank coffee.
Maya began saving him the corner booth.
Mrs. Dalton pretended she didn't notice.
Eventually, Maya learned more about Lily.
She learned Lily loved astronomy.
She wanted to become a veterinarian.
She collected cheap silver rings.
She hated tomatoes.
She had once dyed her hair blue without telling her parents.
And she had a habit of giving away things she liked.
"She gave you this?"
Maya asked one afternoon.
Ray was showing her a photograph.
Lily was standing beside a motorcycle, grinning.
"She gave me almost everything."
"Everything?"
"Except the things I wasn't willing to give up."
He looked at the photo.
"Like this."
Maya smiled.
"She was pretty."
"She was beautiful."
Ray corrected her gently.
"Inside first."
Maya looked at him.
"She sounds like a good person."
Ray nodded.
"She was."
Then Maya noticed something.
There was another person in the photograph.
A young girl stood behind Lily.
Maybe twelve or thirteen.
Maya pointed.
"Who's that?"
Ray's face changed.
"Her friend."
"What happened to her?"
Ray was quiet.
"Don't know."
That answer seemed strange.
"You lost touch?"
Ray folded the photograph.
"Something like that."
A month passed.
Maya's knee healed.
But the bandana stayed.
She kept it in the top drawer of her dresser.
Sometimes she took it out.
Sometimes she smelled the faded fabric.
It smelled like nothing now.
But she imagined it smelled like motorcycle oil, rain, and old leather.