Chương 7
Noah shifted against my chest and made a small rooting motion in his sleep.
I reached for the bottle the nurse had left on the tray.
Daniel stood as if to help.
I moved the bottle before his hand reached it.
“Claire.”
“He needs to wake up first.”
“I know.”
“Then sit.”
He sat.
The phone vibrated a third time.
This time it was a voicemail notification.
Daniel shoved it into his coat pocket.
I watched him do it.
“You said Greg was useless.”
“He is.”
“Mia said he pays child support.”
“That doesn’t make him useful.”
“You seem to know a lot about their arrangement.”
“I helped her through the divorce.”
“Of course you did.”
His mouth flattened.
“It was ugly.”
“Most divorces are.”
“He was controlling.”
“According to who?”
Daniel looked at me as though I had just crossed a line.
“According to Mia.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“You don’t know him.”
“Neither do I.”
I adjusted Noah carefully and tried the bottle against his lower lip.
He turned away.
My stomach tightened.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Maybe give him a second.”
I looked at him.
He leaned back again.
Noah stirred, opened his eyes, and gave me the unfocused offended look babies reserve for being awakened against their will.
I offered the bottle again.
This time he took it.
He drank half an ounce, stopped, then started again.
My whole body softened around that tiny swallow.
Daniel made a sound under his breath.
“Good boy.”
I did not tell him to stop.
For three minutes, the only thing in the room that mattered was the faint pull of Noah’s mouth on the nipple and the numbers slowly changing on the monitor.
Then shouting broke out in the hallway.
Not loud enough to be a fight.
Loud enough to be family.
Mia’s voice came first.
“You cannot come in here like this.”
A man answered, lower and sharper.
“I can when my son is here.”
Daniel stood.
I looked at the door.
He did not move toward it.
That told me more than movement would have.
A second later, someone knocked once and opened the door before either of us answered.
Greg Collins was taller than I expected.
He wore jeans, a faded navy quarter-zip, and the expression of a man who had driven too fast for too long.
His hair was flattened on one side, and there was a reddish mark across his cheek like he had fallen asleep on a couch before his phone rang.
He looked first at Noah.
Then me.
Then Daniel.
His face hardened.
“You.”
Daniel stood.
“Greg, not here.”
Greg laughed once.
“Apparently everywhere is here with you.”
Mia appeared behind him.
“Greg, please.”
He turned halfway toward her.
“You tell me my son is in the emergency room, then I get here and this guy is playing family again?”
“Leo is fine.”
“You said he was vomiting.”
“He was.”
“Where is he?”
“With the volunteer.”
Greg looked furious.
“With what volunteer?”
“The children’s support volunteer by the nurses’ station.”
“Why isn’t he with you?”
“Because I came in here for two minutes.”
“To talk to him?”
Mia’s face flushed.
“To talk to Claire.”
Greg finally looked at me properly.
Something in his expression changed.
Not recognition exactly.
More like calculation rearranging itself.
“You’re Claire.”
It was not a question.
Daniel said, “Greg.”
I kept the bottle steady while Noah drank.
“How do you know my name?”
Greg looked at Daniel.
“He’s mentioned you.”
Daniel’s shoulders tightened.
“That’s enough.”
Greg stared at him.
“You don’t get to tell anybody what’s enough tonight.”
Mia stepped between them.
“Both of you need to stop.”
Greg pointed toward the hallway.
“I want my son.”
“He’s your son when you want to make a point.”
Mia’s words hit hard enough that Greg rocked back.
“Don’t.”
“You disappeared for six weeks last spring.”
“I was working in Denver.”
“You missed his school conference.”
“I was paying for the school.”
“And that makes you father of the year?”
“No, but apparently carrying him into an ER gives Daniel the title.”
The room went silent.
Greg saw the answer on Mia’s face.
His laugh this time had no humor in it.
“He brought Leo here?”
Mia folded her arms.
“I called him.”
“You called Daniel before you called me.”
“You were asleep.”
“My phone was on.”
“You didn’t answer the first time.”
“I called you back eleven minutes later.”
Mia looked away.
Greg’s voice dropped.
“Eleven minutes.”
No one spoke.
I could almost feel the architecture of another failed marriage in the room beside mine.
It was unpleasantly familiar.
People did not usually destroy families with one enormous choice.
They did it with priorities small enough to defend.
Greg looked at Daniel again.
“Why didn’t you answer me?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I’m dealing with my son.”
“So am I.”
“Leo is fine.”
“That isn’t your call.”
“No, it’s what the doctor said.”
Greg stared at him.
“You spoke to my son’s doctor?”
Mia closed her eyes.
“Greg.”
“You let him speak to the doctor?”
“He was the emergency contact.”
Greg’s head snapped toward her.
“He was what?”
The room became so still that I could hear Noah swallowing.
Mia’s face drained.
“I changed the form last year.”
“Why?”
“Because you were traveling constantly.”
“I’m his father.”
“You were unreachable half the time.”
“I was working.”
“You keep saying that like the word erases everything around it.”
Greg pressed both hands to his hips and looked toward the ceiling.
For half a second, I expected him to explode.
Instead, he exhaled slowly.
“Fine.”
The restraint surprised everyone, possibly including him.
“I’m not doing this in front of a sick baby.”
He looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded once.
Then Greg pointed at Daniel.
“But I need to talk to you.”
“No.”
Daniel’s answer was immediate.
Greg’s eyes narrowed.
“That wasn’t optional.”
“It is tonight.”
“I got an email from the bank.”
Daniel’s face changed.
May you like
Mia turned.
“What bank?”
