Maya smiled.
"What did you do?"
"I picked her up."
"And?"
"I told her something my father told me."
"What?"
Ray looked directly at her.
"Falling doesn't mean you're broken."
Maya felt tears fill her eyes.
"She remembered it."
Ray nodded.
"Every time she fell after that, she'd say, 'I'm not broken.'"
He looked down.
"Then one day, I got the call."
Maya reached for his hand.
Ray let her hold it.
"I never got to tell her again."
Years later, Maya would realize that was the moment everything changed.
Not because Ray gave her a bandana.
Not because of Lily.
Not because of the accident.
It changed because Maya finally understood something.
Sometimes strangers arrive in your life carrying pieces of people you'll never meet.
And sometimes they leave those pieces behind because they trust you to carry them.
Ray recovered.
Slowly.
He couldn't ride for almost six months.
Maya visited him every week.
She brought coffee.
Sometimes pie.
Once, she brought an entire chocolate cake and told him it was medically necessary.
"It isn't."
"I don't care."
"You can't eat this."
"I can."
"You shouldn't."
"I've survived worse."
He smiled.
"Fair."
Their friendship grew.
Eventually, Ray returned to the diner.
Everyone applauded.
Mrs. Dalton cried.
Ray pretended not to notice.
Maya stood behind the counter.
He looked at her knee.
Then at the bandana.
She was wearing it around her wrist now.
"You kept it."
"Of course."
Ray smiled.
"Good."
One rainy evening, nearly a year after the accident, Maya found an envelope on her doorstep.
There was no return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Lily.
But this time, Maya recognized the other girl.
She stared at the photograph.
Then at the name written on the back.
"Sarah."
Her heart stopped.
The girl in the picture looked familiar.
Very familiar.
Maya turned the photograph over again.
There was a second note.
She was the reason Lily wore that bandana.
Maya immediately called Ray.
He answered.
"Hello?"
"Ray."
His voice changed.
"What happened?"
"I got your letter."
There was silence.
"You weren't supposed to get that yet."
"Who is Sarah?"
Ray exhaled.
"I knew eventually you'd ask."
"Tell me."
Another silence.