Chapter 16: The Cafeteria

Piper's POV

Jonas texted me at ten past ten.

"Desk duty for two weeks. Commander says it's for my own protection. Marjorie was in his office."

I read it in the NICU, sitting beside the box with my daughter's hand wrapped around my little finger.

I did not write back right away.

I typed one message to a different number instead.

"Hospital cafeteria, noon. Bring your thermos. Come alone."

She sent a single line.

"Of course, sweetheart."

The cafeteria smelled like soup and floor cleaner.

I took the table by the windows, where the whole room could see us, and I put Delaney across from me with her back to the wall.

She had borrowed my gray sweater. It hung off her.

"You don't have to say anything," I told her.

"I know."

"If you want to leave, you leave."

"I know, Piper."

Marjorie came in at noon exactly, with the silver thermos in one hand and her coat folded over her arm.

She stopped at the end of our table and looked at Delaney in my sweater.

"Well," she said. "Aren't you two cozy."

"Sit down, Marjorie."

She sat.

She poured herself a cup of ginger tea and did not offer us any.

"I assume this is about the petition," she said. "Piper, I'm so sorry about the confusion. A lawyer drafted it, and I never read the fine print."

"Garrett's name was forged on it."

"Was it? I'm sure it was an assistant."

I let that sit.

"I know about the turnpike," I said.

She stirred her tea.

It was a small silver spoon, and she stirred it exactly three times.

"The turnpike is a long road, dear. I know about a great many things on it."

"I know all of it, Marjorie. The only thing I haven't decided is who hears it first."