The Third Message novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Cool Off

Six weeks after the surgery, I was walking the length of the physical therapy room with a cane.

Seven people sat in the waiting area, and half of them were watching me.

I was on my fourth lap when the glass door swung open.

Burke walked in with a bouquet of grocery store roses.

Bree came behind him in a pink raincoat with her chin down.

I had blocked neither of them yet. I had just stopped answering.

Burke stopped in front of me and held out the flowers.

"I'm sorry," he said, loud enough to carry. "I should have asked about your leg. I'll do better. Just come back to the group."

I did not take the roses.

"Why now?"

He glanced at Bree.

Bree wiped her eyes. "Lana, I know you're angry. But the lab is in trouble. We lost the field grant, and Burke has been up for three nights."

"The field season costs eighteen thousand," Burke said. "We need a loan."

I stood very still with both hands on the cane.

"A loan from who?"

"You," he said. "You have savings. The surgery's done, so you don't need them anymore."

A woman in the waiting area lowered her magazine.

I had been saving that money for years. Last life, I had given it to him with a smile.

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