Page 510 of End Game

Silence settles between us.

I think about the nurse asking if I was Cami's husband.

The way every staff member since then has looked at me first when they needed a decision.

“The marriage thing is weird.”

Holden glances at me. “How?”

“The guys are her family, too.”

“I know.”

“They had to be added to the chart. I didn't.”

“No.”

“Tomorrow night, one person gets to stay. Everybody already knows it'll be me.”

Holden nods slowly. “The paper matters in hospitals.”

“I know.”

“It doesn't mean you matter more.”

“I know that too.”

He studies me for a moment. “I wasn't Alexis's husband when I first learned this lesson.”

The words are simple.

No story attached.

“I'm her husband now. Back then, Ethan was the only one with legal rights because he was smart enough to get a medical POA. I can tell you the legal part answers one kind of question really well. It tells the hospital who to call first. Who can consent if the patient can't. Who doesn't need an explanation for why they're standing at the bedside.”

He pauses. “It doesn't tell you how to be less scared.”

I look at him. “That's annoyingly insightful.”

“I hope the twelve years I spent in school means I should occasionally say something useful.”

I huff out another laugh.

Then he straightens. “Go be her husband.”

I glance down at the water bottle. “I am.”

“No. You're currently being the paramedic who happens to be married to her.”

That shuts me up.

Holden nods toward the hallway. “The ICU has doctors. It has nurses. It has residents who would probably love an opportunity to explain an anion gap to your boyfriends.”

Despite myself, I smile. “Partners, metamours, whatever.”

“Whatever your household calls them.”

“Depends which one you ask.”