Page 43 of The Golden Hour

Dr. Weaver tries to regain control, the way they are all taught to do: stay calm, stay logical, manage the family's emotions with logic and reason. But that emotion is logical. It is valid. They are scared and don't know what's happening behind those doors.

They are looking to the doctors for answers, not realizing that too many doctors in this hospital see a chart, not a person.

To his shame, Mason was one of those doctors.

And he wasn't seeing his wife at all because of it.

"Ma'am, I understand that⁠⁠—"

"Where is he?" Phil growls, cutting her off. "Mortimer."

Dr. Weaver's face twitches, but Mason cannot read whether it is defiance or guilt.

Maybe both.

"Nurse Ellen has called him," Weaver says. "I'm sure he's on his way here⁠⁠—"

"Called?" Melissa repeats with a humorless laugh. "My daughter is being cut open by a resident while the doctor who ignored her symptoms for months is being called?"

Dr. Weaver's throat works.

"Ma'am—"

"Did you hear that? He's being called. Well, call him again, but tell him not to rush. Maybe he can stop at Wawa for a hoagie on his way to the hospital where his patient is bleeding out because of his incompetence!" Melissa's voice climbs with each word until it's a roar, her voice echoing in the hallway and cutting through the hum of noise.

Everyone stops in their tracks. Nurses, doctors, and techs all freeze in place. People poke their heads out of offices and around corners, curious and intrigued by the commotion, by the sight of Dr. Carpenter's mother-in-law unraveling in her rage, right in the middle of the surgical floor.

"Ma'am," Dr. Weaver says firmly, "please calm down."

For one impossible second, Mason is half-convinced the world has stopped turning. All the noise gets sucked out of the hallway like someone opened a vacuum above them.

"Oh, fuck," Phil mutters, wrapping an arm around Melissa's waist.

Normally, Phil would go off on anyone who told his wife to calm down. Mason has seen it happen before to anyone who tried to dull Melissa's shine, anyone who told Melissa she was too much when Phil knows she's exactly the right amount.

But Melissa is also feral when it comes to her only child, and right now there is no calming down this storm.

"Calm down?" she asks, voice dangerously soft. "My daughter is dying because of this hospital's actions, and you tell me to calm down?"

Dr. Weaver doesn't answer, just adopts a sympathetic look on her face.

Melissa scoffs, then turns to face Mason. "What a wonderful place you work at, Mason. Truly amazing."

He flinches, feeling his chest clench.

Do something, Mason!

The words Melissa shrieked at him make his back straighten, and he steps toward Dr. Weaver. Fire rises inside his body, determination spreading through his veins. He can't just stop and wait for things to happen, for things to get better for Honey because other people finally decide she matters enough to save.

He has to actively improve them.

The way he should have from the start.

"When he gets here," Mason says, pushing the words out through gritted teeth. "Do not let him near Honey."

Five sets of eyes snap to Mason at his words.

"Dr. Mortimer is her doctor, Dr. Carpenter."