Chapter 12: The Nightstand

"Colin," I said.

He was awake before I finished the word.

He sat up in the gray light with his hair flat on one side and looked at the paper in my hands.

Every trace of sleep left his face.

"Katie."

"Is this what I was doing on Friday?"

"Put it down," he said. "Please."

"Answer me."

"Yes."

The one word dropped into the room.

I held the petition against my chest with both arms.

"You said you didn't know where I went."

"I lied."

"For how long?"

"Since the emergency room."

I sat down on the edge of his bed, because my legs wouldn't hold me.

"Tell me," I said.

He pulled on a pair of pants and sat across from me on the cedar chest at the foot of the bed.

His hands hung between his knees.

"They gave me your things in a plastic bag," he said. "Your phone, your keys and the tote."

"This folder was inside, in the lawyer's envelope. I thought it was medical, so I opened it in the hallway."

"And?"

"I read it standing up. Your signature was on the last page. It was dated that morning."

"You've known since Friday?"

"I've known since one-fifteen on Friday."

"Why didn't you tell me when I woke up?"

His thumb went along his jaw, and he stopped it with his other hand.

"When you woke up, you looked at me the way I wished you had in April," he said.

"I didn't think anyone had ever looked at me like that."

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