He Held Her Son the Night I Lost Ours novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Breakfast

Rafe read the email twice, sitting on the edge of my bed with his shirt half buttoned.

"Twice," he said. "And he answered the second."

"Yes."

"Where is he?"

"The hotel by the river. They have a breakfast room." I was already pulling on my jeans. "They have it until ten."

"Do you want me there?"

I looked at him.

"At the next table," I said. "With a coffee. You're not a favor, and you're not a rescue."

His mouth moved.

"I'll bring a newspaper. Nobody questions a man with a newspaper."

The breakfast room was all white linen and silver pots.

They sat at a round table by the window.

Clark had a plate of eggs he wasn't eating. Sylvia sat opposite him, sharp in navy. Ollie was drawing on a napkin, and Tara was buttering toast for him.

For a second it looked like a family.

I walked across the carpet and stood at the empty chair.

"Good morning," I said.

Sylvia's knife stopped.

Clark looked up, and his whole face went careful.

"Willa. You can't keep doing this in public."

"I only have one thing to read."

I took out my phone.

At the next table Rafe opened a newspaper and began to read the sports page, upside down.

I almost laughed.

"This is from the hospital's records office," I said, and read it out in a steady voice.

I read the two calls.

I read the times.

I read the line that said the second call had been answered.

By the end, the couple at the table behind us had stopped chewing.

Clark had put down his fork.

"That's a mistake," he said.

"It has your number."

"There are a hundred ways a number gets logged."

"It says you answered."

"I didn't."

"Clark."

"I would remember if I'd gotten a call from a hospital." His voice rose. "You think I'd forget something like that?"

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