No One Left Behind, Except for Me novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Reagan
Reagan stood in the middle of the waiting room with her suitcase handle in both fists.
A night nurse looked up from the desk, and an old man two chairs down lowered his newspaper.
"Where is he?" Reagan asked.
"Behind the second set of doors," I said. "Mild hypothermia and frostnip. He talked the whole way. He's going to keep his fingers."
"Oh, thank God."
Her knees gave a little, and she sat down on the edge of a plastic chair.
"I landed at nine," she said. "I went to the hotel. He wasn't there, and his phone was off. The desk clerk said an ambulance had called for his room key at one in the morning."
"You flew here to find him."
"I flew here to find you."
I waited.
Mikkel sat beside me with his hands on his knees and did not speak.
"I can't do this at a better time," Reagan said. "I don't have a better time. May I say it here?"
"Say it here."
She took a breath, and her voice shook, and she said it anyway.
"I laughed at breakfast."
"I know. I heard the recording."
"You heard Heidi's recording. You didn't hear why." She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "Tate said don't wait for Natalie, she'll make it back. I thought: of course she will. She always does."
"That's not why you laughed."
"No." She shut her eyes. "I laughed because for four years every person on that team said 'ask Natalie.' Ask Natalie where the tape is. Ask Natalie if it's safe. Ask Natalie what to do. And I was the cheerful one with the poms. I wanted one weekend where somebody asked me."
"So you cut my name off a jacket."
"Heidi wore it, and she looked at it like it was hers." Reagan's voice cracked. "It was the only thing in that whole team with your name on it, and I couldn't stand how much everyone loved it."
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