“No, let him hear it,” Frank says. “You don’t like being here anymore.”
Colton’s jaw clenches. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” Frank asks. “You used to stay. Sit. Argue with me about baseball stats and bad movies. Now you’re in and out like I’m contagious.”
The words hang in the air, sharp and undeniable.
Colton straightens. “I’m maintaining professional boundaries.”
Frank laughs softly. “Bullshit.”
I feel my chest tighten, not in fear, but in recognition. I’ve seen this moment before, from the other side of the bed. The moment when someone stops being just a patient and becomes a reminder of something far too personal.
Colton’s hand curls into a fist at his side “I’ll check back later.”
Frank sighs. “There it is again. The disappearing act.”
Colton doesn’t respond. He turns and leaves, the door closing behind him with a final click that echoes louder thanit should.
Diane watches him go, her expression sad but unsurprised. “He reminds you of someone, doesn’t he?”
Frank nods. “Yeah.”
“Who?” I ask quietly.
Frank looks at me, something softer entering his eyes. “Me.”
The answer settles heavy in my chest.
Later that evening, I see Colton in the hallway near the elevators, staring at his phone like it’s delivering bad news instead of just reflecting his own thoughts back at him.
“Hey,” I say softly.
He looks up, startled, like he forgot other people existed. “Hey.”
“You okay?” I ask.
He nods immediately. Too quickly. “Fine.”
I don’t push.
Instead, I watch the tension in his shoulders, the way his posture stays rigid, even when he’s standing still. This isn’t stress. This is containment.
He’s holding something back with both hands.
As I walk away, Aubrey’s words surface again, clearer now.“He’s been through a lot.”
Watching Colton fracture quietly under the weight of Frank’s decline, I realize the truth with unsettling clarity.
Frank isn’t the wound.
Frank is the echo.
Whatever shaped Colton into this man, it started long before this hospital room. Long before me.
And whatever it was … it hasn’t healed.
Later in the day Frank asks me to stay when the room finally empties.
