Chapter 4: Visiting Hours

The emergency room smelled like floor cleaner and burnt coffee.

I knew it too well.

I had walked into this building every working day for eight years, and I had never once come to it as family.

Gavin waited by the desk with his jacket creased and his hair uncombed.

"Thank God," he said.

"She's asking for you."

"Where is she?"

"Bay six."

He reached for my arm and I stepped around him.

Behind the curtain, Adele lay propped on a pillow in a hospital gown with a drip in her hand.

Her pearls were still on.

Merritt stood at the foot of her bed in his grey suit.

Teddy sat in the corner with his head in his hands, looking green.

Adele opened her eyes when I came in and put on a small, brave face.

"Rhea."

"You came."

"What did you eat?" I asked.

"Don't scold her," Merritt said.

"A little cake," Adele said.

"The one from Gavin's birthday, from the freezer."

"With the full sugar."

"A sliver."

"I thought, just once."

"And the prawns I boxed up last night," Teddy said miserably.

"I gave her the prawns."

"Sorry."

A nurse came in with a tablet.

She was young and brisk.

"Are you family?" she asked me.

"Because I need her medication history and nobody here seems to know it."

Adele's eyes moved toward the nurse.

"Rhea has been looking after me for years," she said softly.

"But she walked out on me this morning."

"She left me alone without so much as a cup of tea."

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