Chapter 7: The College Student

"What is week two hundred and fourteen?" I asked.

Dane stuffed the envelope into his coat and smiled.

"My tailor's invoice. Are you reading my mail now, Flynn?"

I looked at Joanna to see if she'd heard the number.

She hadn't heard anything.

She was staring at the empty bed beside mine, rocking slightly on her feet.

"Where is he?" she asked. "Where is Milo?"

"In my bag," I said. "In a white urn."

She stepped toward the chair where my bag sat.

I put my bandaged hand on it.

"Flynn, please. Let me hold him. Just once."

"No."

"I'm his mother."

"You were his mother on Thursday morning when he was bleeding," I said. "You were his mother in the lobby when you called me a thief."

"I didn't know."

"You didn't ask."

She flinched and pressed her hand to her mouth.

Dane stepped between us.

"Don't talk to her like that. She's grieving."

"So am I," I said. "You've got a funny way of showing you care about my family, Dane."

"I never said I did."

The nurse by the monitor stopped writing.

The officer in the corridor leaned a little closer to the door.

Then a voice came from behind them.

"Flynn?"

A woman stood in the doorway holding a pet carrier in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

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