James POV
Lilly was ready before either of us.
She was sitting on the bottom stair when I came down at nine, coat on, one boot laced and one boot in her hand, looking at it like it had done something to her.
"The lace broke," she announced.
"We have other boots."
"I want these ones."
I crouched down and looked at it. The lace had snapped clean near the top eyelet, which meant it hadn’t been wearing down. It had just gone.
"I'll find you a lace," I said.
"We'll be late."
"We're not meeting anyone, Lilly."
She considered this. "Still."
I found a lace in the kitchen drawer where Rose kept things that didn’t have an obvious home: batteries, spare buttons, a measuring tape, two pens that may or may not have worked.
I threaded it through and tied it and Lilly held her foot out like
