“Look at this,” he said, holding the screen six inches from my face.
It was a picture of a white SUV, parked on a clean concrete driveway in front of a model home. The chrome trim caught the glare of the showroom lights.
“It has the third-row seating,” Daniel said, his voice rising with excitement. “And the safety package with the side-impact airbags. You will not have to worry about the freeway traffic with the girls anymore.”
I looked at the image, then at his face.
“You said we had to wait until the spring,” I said.
“We do not have to wait,” he said, his thumb tapping the edge of the phone. “I can call the dealership on Camelback road this afternoon. They can have it delivered to the house by Friday.”
He set his phone down on the small rolling bedside table, right next to the plastic pitcher of water.
“It is exactly what you need,” he said, his hand reaching for the paper cup of water he had brought in earlier. “A fresh start. For all of us.”
I watched him lift the cup toward his mouth.
The paper rim was shaking against his lip, making a tiny, rapid clicking sound against his teeth. A thin stream of water escaped the side of his mouth and ran down his chin.
He put the cup down quickly, but his hand was trembling so hard the water sloshed over the rim, pooling on the white laminate surface of the table.
He did not seem to notice the water spreading toward his phone. His fingers went straight to his gold watch face, tapping the glass with a sharp, hollow sound.
His smile remained perfectly in place, but the water from the tipped cup was dripping slowly onto his leather shoes.
I sat on the edge of the gurney, the paper sheet beneath me crinkling with every small shift of my weight. My ribs ached with a dull, throbbing heat whenever I took a full breath.
Daniel stood by the door, his wet leather shoes leaving two faint, dark ovals on the floor. He kept his hands behind his back, his jaw tight as he stared at the corridor.
Dr. Helen Morris stepped back into the bay, her silver-framed reading glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She did not look at the wet floor or the puddle near Daniel’s feet.
