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I blink a few times, then look around to make sure no one saw my massive yawn.
I’m sitting in the computer room in the ER. Through the glass panels around me I can see the nurses’ station across the hall, plus several treatment rooms.
I’m in luck.
No one saw me put my exhaustion on display.
I take a sip of coffee, then go back to studying the X-ray of a new admission.
The filmy gray and white masses on the screen look ghostly. A white bone has a shadowy crack in it, so thin and fine it looks like a hair. As far as fractures go, this one is very minor. I’ll apply a splint, give the guy pain medicine, and send him home with instructions on how to best heal up.
Wish my own life was that easy to fix.
A splint and a bottle of pills.
All better.
That sure would be nice.
As it is I feel like I have a hole in my heart, and there’s no fix in sight. I’ve felt this way ever since this morning, when Maddison texted to share her good news about her movie. She’s got a lead on selling it.
She sounded happy about it. I got that from the five exclamation points in a row following the announcement about some guy out in LA who loved the script.
That’s what it is—good news.
I have to remind myself of that…
Over and over again.
Because I keep forgetting, and thinking it’srottennews. It means she’s getting her life back on track, the way she wants it to go. I know she was here to lick her wounds, so she could return to the life she’s built out there.
It hurts to know that the day’s coming—soon, most likely—that she’ll head back to the West Coast.
When my phone beeps, I pull it out of my pocket and check my texts, wondering if it’s another update from Maddie already. She said this new agent of hers was getting lunch with the owner of a big production company, and she promised to let me know the minute she heard an update.
I feel guilty for not being more excited for her.
I brace myself as I open my texts. But the message isn’t from her, it’s from that nosy neighbor of mine, Fredricka.
What now?I wonder, as I start to read.
Fredricka:I thought you might want to know… I just bumped into Milly while we were both out for our walks. Her husband had another fare out to Hopkins, but this time, it wasn’t Sylvester who was going to the Marriott. I’m sure you’llbe quite interested in knowing it was Maddison Bradshaw, and she only wanted a ride one way.
A chill settles over me.
Maddison went to see Sylvester at his hotel room?
Why?
Nope… I can’t worry about this.
Right now, I have a splint to apply. A prescription to write. I’m atwork. I can’t?—
But… now I am.
I’m thinking about Maddison, and how it felt to hold her last night… and how now, she’s out in Hopkins. At the Marriott.
I close my eyes, rub my temples, and want to mutter a couple swear words. It’s familiar, this mood. Doctor Doom is back.
