Chapter 13: Turned Loose

The cardiac ward smelled of floor cleaner and warm plastic.

Clifford lay propped on three pillows with a clear tube under his nose and a monitor ticking beside his head.

The doctor had said fluid on the lungs and two nights, and she had said it to Meredith, because Meredith held his medical proxy.

I hadn't known that until the doctor asked for her.

Gerald was waiting in the corridor when we came up from the elevator.

"I'll sit with him," he said. "You two can go home."

Meredith stopped in front of the door with her arms folded.

"The nurse cleared two visitors, Dad. You're not one of them."

"I'm his son."

"Then you can wait in the lobby with the lawyer you brought."

Gerald looked past her at me, and his mouth went thin.

"The gala is off," he said. "My father can't stand on a stage. We'll sign the trust at the house on Sunday, with the family at the table."

"We'll see what he says," Meredith said.

Gerald straightened his cuffs and walked off toward the elevators. I didn't see where Preston had gone.

Inside, Clifford's eyes were already open.

"Is the door shut?" he asked.

"It's shut," I said.

"Good. I'd like to apologize for the drama."

"Explain," Meredith said.

She didn't sit. She stood at the foot of the bed with her hand around the rail.

Clifford took a slow breath through the tube.

"In March I got a letter from a clinic," he said. "Six months. I thought about what I was leaving behind, and I didn't like the list."

Keep reading free with an account. Start My In-Laws Mocked the Tow Driver, Until They Learned I Was Kijin from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.