Chapter 10 - The Waiting Room Had His Name On Her Papers
I didn't call out to him from the end of the hall.
I could hear my own breathing too loud inside my chest, and I forced it slower as I moved. My shoes made no sound on the tile. The lace sleeves caught on the strap of my bag when I shifted it, and I stopped to fix it because I didn't want anything to rustle.
Daniel was at the far end by the double doors marked SURGERY. He wasn't alone.
An older woman stood next to him with a clipboard pressed against her coat. She had gray hair pulled into a low twist and a dark blue sweater with the sleeves pushed up. She kept touching his forearm when she talked, like she needed him to stay upright. Daniel nodded at whatever she said. He had his jacket off now, draped over one arm, his white shirt wrinkled and pulling loose at the collar.
I stayed beside the water fountain and watched them. A nurse came out with papers on a tray. The older woman signed without reading, then handed the pen to Daniel and pointed to a second line. He signed too.
That was when I understood. You don't sign second on a stranger's form.
I moved a step closer. The waiting area was almost empty at that hour, just a man asleep across three chairs and a TV playing low with captions on. The chairs were gray plastic with metal arms. Someone had left a paper coffee cup on the floor. The air tasted like cleaner and old ice.
The older woman sat down hard, like her knees gave. Daniel sat beside her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. She said something I couldn't hear. He answered, low, and shook his head.
I took another step. My shadow hit the tile in front of me.
"Excuse me," I said to the nurse at the desk. My voice sounded scraped. "I'm looking for — was there a crash tonight? On the highway?"
She glanced at my dress, then back at her screen. "Are you family?"
"No," I said. "I just — I heard surgery."
She hesitated. Hospital rules sat right behind her eyes. Then she looked past me toward Daniel and the woman, and something eased. "The county road wreck," she said quietly. "Young woman. Came in about an hour ago. She's in surgery now."
My hands went cold. "Emily?" I asked before I could stop myself.
The nurse didn't confirm it. She didn't have to. The older woman heard the name and looked up.
Daniel looked up too.
He froze when he saw me. His mouth opened and then closed. The jacket slipped off his arm onto the floor and he didn't pick it up. For a second nobody in that little corner moved at all. The TV kept flashing captions. The man across the chairs snored once.
May you like
The older woman stood. "Daniel?" she said. "Who is this?"
He didn't answer her. He just stared at me in my white dress under those flat lights, and I stared back, breathing too fast again, and the papers on her lap said everything he hadn't.
