I exhale, setting it back down.
“I’m proud of you,” Kayla says quietly.
I look at her.
“For what?”
“For standing still,” she says. “That’s harder than chasing.”
I let that sink in. For the first time all day, my chest loosens a little.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Colton
The knock on my office door is softer than usual.
Not the quick, efficient tap of someone who needs an answer. This one hesitates, like whoever’s on the other side already knows what they’re about to interrupt.
“Come in,” I say, eyes still on the screen.
Trudy steps inside and closes the door behind her.
I know this isn’t about staffing or schedules or a patient question she could’ve asked anyone else because she isn’t smiling. Trudy smiles, even on the worst days. She’s learned how to hold light without disrespecting the dark.
Today, she doesn’t try.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she says gently.
I finally look up.
Her hands are clasped together in front of her, fingers twisting slightly—a nervous habit I’ve onlyseen a handful of times. The last was when Frank’s numbers dropped faster than any of us expected.
A heavy weight settles behind my sternum.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
She exhales, slow and careful. “Diane asked me to give you something.”
She reaches into the pocket of her cardigan and pulls out a white envelope.
My name is written across the front in thick, uneven handwriting.
Frank’s handwriting.
The room tilts.
“When?” I ask, though my voice sounds distant, even to me.
“A few days ago,” Trudy says. “He was very clear about it. Said it had to be you.”
I take the envelope from her. It’s light. Just paper. Nothing substantial enough to cause the reaction rippling through my chest, but it does.
“He asked that you read it alone,” she adds quietly.
Of course he did. Frank never wasted moments. He believed in precision. In saying exactly what needed to be said and letting it land where it would.
“Thank you,” I say.
