My Husband Sent the Helicopter to Save a Dog, So I Signed novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Wellness Check

The next morning the bakery was full.

Word had gone around Sacramento about the fire and about Nonna.

People came in to buy a loaf and stand for a minute.

I had not slept since Alec's phone lit up.

He had gone to the airfield at dawn to fight the suspension in person, and he had texted me one line.

*They took my badge. I'm still flying Saturday.*

I was boxing cannoli with my bandaged hands when the bell over the door rang twice.

A woman in a gray blazer came in with two sheriff's deputies behind her.

The line went quiet.

"Marisa Ferrante?" the woman said. "I'm a physician. These officers are here with me. I have an order for a voluntary-or-involuntary evaluation, seventy-two hours, at a facility in Roseville."

"A what?"

"A wellness hold." She held up a form. "It was requested by your spouse."

I took the form with the sides of my hands.

*Application for emergency evaluation. Applicant: Mitchell Bradbury, husband. Grounds: recorded statements of self-harm; recent bereavement; unstable conduct.*

At the bottom, in blue ink, pressed hard, was his signature.

"My husband didn't request this," I said.

"His signature is on it, ma'am."

"He signs everything. That's the point."

The older deputy shifted his weight and looked at the floor.

"Ma'am, we have to take it seriously," he said. "There's a recording in the packet. You say you don't want to be here."

"I said that fourteen months ago, on my father's anniversary."

"The date on the packet is last week."

"Then somebody lied on your packet."

"Please just come with us quietly," the doctor said.

I put down the cannoli box.

"No."

"Ms. Ferrante."

"No, I'm not coming. I'm standing in my own shop."

The younger deputy stepped toward me.

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