Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Count Them

Briana had texted that his stitches were due for a check.

She had added that she would drag him in by the ear if he didn't come.

So Elliott stood in the staff corridor behind the triage desk, with Hannah's coffee in his hand.

A paper tag on his coat said VISITOR.

Through the glass he could see the whole waiting room.

Forty people sat in plastic chairs on a Sunday.

The sliding doors opened and let in a woman in a cap and sunglasses.

He knew the walk before he knew the face.

Marin went to the desk and said something he couldn't hear.

The nurse behind the glass turned and called through the swinging doors.

"Briana! Somebody's here for you!"

Briana came out with a clipboard and a pen behind her ear.

She saw Marin and stopped walking.

Elliott put his coffee down on a cart.

He did not step out.

He told himself it was because he wanted to hear it.

Then he told himself he had every right to.

"Well," Briana said. "Look who's here, in public, in daylight."

"Briana, please. Can we talk somewhere else?"

"Why? Everybody here already knows who you are."

The phones came up one at a time.

A man in the corner stood to film better.

Briana did not lower her voice at all.

"You sat in a car and watched four men break my brother's face."

A woman with a baby on her lap stopped bouncing it.

"I didn't know it would be that bad," Marin said.

"Forty times a year? You thought it would stay nice?"

"I was afraid."

"Of what? He was the one on the ground."

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