Six Rooms at the Lake, But None for My Parents novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Hospital Lobby

Jenna's POV

I left my mother at the shop with Brooke's husband and drove to the hospital with both hands tight on the wheel.

Colin was in the main lobby, between the gift shop and the elevators.

He was on his knees on the tile.

A security guard stood three feet away, not touching him, and a dozen visitors had stopped near the desk to watch.

My pharmacy tech stood by the information counter in her white coat with her phone clutched against her chest.

"I'm so sorry," she said when she saw me. "He wouldn't leave."

"It's all right."

Colin saw me and scrambled up, and his face was wet and swollen.

"Jen. Jen, thank God."

"Get up, Colin."

"Please, you have to listen. They all turned on me. My own mother said I was a liar in front of the whole shop. I've got nobody."

I thought about the dock, and the porch, and the long drive.

For five years I would have said his name softly and taken him somewhere private.

"Say it here," I said. "You came here to say it where people could see you."

He looked around, finally, at the faces watching him.

Two of the nurses from my floor had come out of the elevator.

A man in a hospital gown stood by the vending machine, holding his IV pole.

"I need you," Colin said. "I can't do this without you. I'll do anything. I'll go to counseling. I'll get a job at a grocery store. Just don't leave me."

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