Chương 6
“You did this.”
“Maya fixed it.”
“You undid her work.”
“I got hot.”
“That’s fair.”
Lucy looked down.
Erin waited.
“The doctor said you won’t reach midnight.”
Rachel turned away.
Grant looked at the floor.
Erin stroked the back of Lucy’s hand with one finger.
“He didn’t say exactly that.”
“You’re dying tonight.”
The bluntness would have sounded cruel from an adult.
From Lucy, it was a question stripped of punctuation.
Erin took a breath.
“Probably.”
Lucy nodded.
Her mouth trembled once.
“You said birthdays go until midnight.”
“I did.”
“So I got the cake.”
“I see that.”
“And a candle.”
“Very organized.”
“I only had seventy-five cents.”
“So you took my ring.”
Lucy’s eyes filled.
“I was bringing it back if it cost less.”
Rachel made a helpless sound that might have been laughter.
Erin closed her eyes.
Grant expected her to cry.
Instead she said, “Your father is haunting this room just to complain about your budgeting.”
Lucy looked confused.
Then she laughed.
The laugh turned into a hiccup.
Erin smiled.
“Ring.”
Lucy opened her fist.
The ring had left a red impression in her palm.
Erin touched it.
“Put it on the table.”
Lucy did.
“Coins too.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you sleeping with money in your hand.”
Lucy placed the three coins beside the ring.
The objects looked absurdly small on the hospital table.
Rachel set the cake near them.
“Can we light it?” Lucy asked.
Rachel glanced at Grant as though he might somehow know hospital fire policy.
He lifted both hands.
A nurse appeared at the door.
“No open flames,” she said.
Lucy’s shoulders dropped.
The nurse, whose badge read BECCA LIN, leaned against the frame.
“I know.”
“It’s one candle.”
“I still know.”
“Mom’s dying.”
Becca’s expression did not change.
“I know that too.”
Lucy stared at her.
Becca crossed the room.
“We can light it in the family lounge with no oxygen around. Your mom can’t go with us.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Hospital policy is often stupid for specific reasons.”
“I want her to blow it out.”
Erin said, “I can barely blow out my nose.”
“Mom.”
“Sorry.”
Becca crouched beside Lucy.
“We can bring the cake close. Your mom can make the wish. You blow out the candle for her.”
Lucy looked at Erin.
“That’s cheating.”
Erin whispered, “Most birthdays are.”
Lucy considered the proposal.
“Okay.”
The cake remained closed.
Nobody moved to the family lounge yet.
Time had become something they all pretended not to watch.
At seven fifteen, Erin slept.
At seven forty, Rachel forced Lucy to eat half a turkey sandwich.
Grant stayed.
No one asked him to anymore.
That surprised him most.
He left the room when family needed privacy and sat in the hallway. He answered no work calls. At some point Maya returned with a paper bag of sandwiches and four coffees.
Rachel stared at her.
“You came back.”
“I got off at seven.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I know.”
Maya handed Grant a coffee.
“You abandoned your other one.”
“You charged me for this?”
“Obviously.”
He looked at the cup.
There was no label.
“How do you know what I drink?”
“You ordered black coffee this afternoon.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“You look like you drink black coffee.”
Rachel snorted.
Grant sat in a plastic chair holding the cup.
Maya took the chair beside him.
Through the partly open door, Lucy sat on the bed reading to Erin from a library book about a dog who hated baths.
Erin’s eyes remained closed.
Lucy read anyway.
“Does her mother have family besides Rachel?” Grant asked.
Maya looked at him.
“Why are you asking me?”
“I don’t know.”
“I met them three hours ago.”
“Right.”
Maya opened her sandwich.
“You’re not good at this.”
“At what?”
“Not being useful.”
Grant looked at her.
She took a bite.
“I’m excellent at being useful.”
“I said not being useful.”
He drank the coffee.
It was terrible.
He drank more.
Maya nodded toward his hand.
“You hurt that in the river?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Grant glanced at her.
“You really don’t know?”
“Should I?”
“Apparently a lot of people do.”
“I work at a bakery. The business news we discuss is whether butter costs too much.”
He looked through the door again.
“I was driving home. Another vehicle changed lanes into mine. I hit the bridge barrier.”
“Were you alone?”
“Yes.”
“You went over?”
“The front end did first. The SUV turned.”
Maya stopped eating.
“I was trapped long enough to get hypothermia. Erin’s ambulance was nearby. She got into the water before the rescue team had stabilized the vehicle.”
“Was that allowed?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“She was written up.”
Maya stared.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
“For saving you?”
“For entering an unstable scene before fire rescue cleared it.”
“What happened to the write-up?”
“Her captain reduced it.”
Maya shook her head.
“That sounds like an institution.”
“It does.”
Grant rubbed the side of his finger.
“The news reported that I escaped the vehicle.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Did you tell them?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
Maya returned to her sandwich.
He waited.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know.”
“You lied by omission.”
“Yes.”
“You know that.”
“Yes.”
“She knows that.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would I perform surprise?”
Grant looked away.
Maya chewed.
After a moment she said, “For what it’s worth, you look appropriately uncomfortable.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
At eight eighteen, Claire arrived.
Grant saw her at the nurses’ station in a dark green coat, carrying his laptop bag.
He stood.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving you from your own calendar.”
She handed him the bag.
“Tomorrow’s interview is canceled.”
“Good.”
“The board chair wants to know why.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“I told him family emergency.”
“It isn’t my family.”
“It is an emergency involving a family. English is flexible.”
Maya watched from her chair.
Claire noticed.
Grant introduced them.
“Maya Ortiz. Claire Donnelly.”
May you like
Claire shook Maya’s hand.
“You’re the bakery employee?”
