Chapter 10: The Dates

Bea did not wait until morning.

She was in the dialysis corridor at seven, in scrubs, holding a printout and breathing through her nose.

I got there ten minutes after her, with Damian's text still on my phone: Don't let her do it alone.

Perry sat in his chair by the window, hooked to the machine, reading a paperback. His mother was in the waiting room two doors down.

"Good morning, Dr. Cushman," Perry said, smiling.

"Four sessions," Bea said.

"I'm sorry?"

"You missed four. March fourth, April twelfth, May ninth, June second." She held up the page. "Each one was the day before a text to my sister."

The paperback sat open on his knee.

"That's a very specific accusation," he said gently.

"It's a very specific pattern."

"Bea, I'm ill. I get tired. Some days I can't face the chair."

"You faced it fine on every other day of the month."

A nurse at the station stopped typing.

Perry looked at me with his brown eyes full of hurt.

"Jo, is she serious?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't.

"Dr. Cushman." The voice came from behind us, low and carrying.

Damian stood in the corridor with his hands in his white coat pockets.

"Step outside," he said.

"He did it on purpose."

"I said outside."

Bea stared at him, then at the machine. She went.

Damian followed her into the hall and shut the door, and I heard every word through the glass.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Ninety-Nine Wishes, One Broken Marriage from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.