Chapter 4 - THE ROOM AT THE END
I called Mom from the country club parking lot before we left.
“Why is your name on Emily's transfer?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Ryan said it was paperwork from the accident. A correction.”
“When did you sign it?”
“Yesterday.”
“You signed paperwork for your dead daughter yesterday?”
“He said the insurance company needed—”
“Stop.”
Lily stirred in the back seat. I lowered my voice.
“Don't call Ryan. Don't throw anything away. Ortiz is going to want to talk to you.”
I ended the call before she could tell me I was hurting her.
At Cedar House, a police cruiser sat near the front entrance. Rosa met us in scrubs with little yellow suns printed on them.
“The transfer's stopped,” she said. “Emily said no in front of the officers.”
“Where's the administrator?”
“Nolan Price went home before they arrived.”
Lily gripped my hand as we walked down the hall.
“Does Mommy look different?”
“A little.”
“Do I have to pretend she doesn't?”
I crouched beside her. “You don't have to pretend anything.”
Emily was sitting upright when we entered. Her left hand rested on a cushion. One leg was held in a brace.
For a moment, Lily couldn't move.
Then Emily lifted her good hand.
“There's my girl.”
Lily ran, stopped short of the bed, and looked at Rosa.
“Can I hug her?”
“Carefully.”
My sister folded an arm around her daughter. Lily buried her face against Emily's shoulder and shook.
“I was good,” she said. “I tried being really good.”
Emily looked at me over her head.
I had to turn away.
Later, Rosa took Lily to choose a juice from the family room. I sat beside the bed.
“Why didn't you call?” I asked, then hated myself for it.
Emily looked at her useless hand.
“At first I couldn't. Then they said you weren't safe.”
“Who said that?”
“Ryan. Price. There was something in my file about a court order. I kept asking to see it.”
Her voice frayed.
“Ryan said if I fought him, Lily would end up with strangers. He said no one would believe me.”
“I believe you.”
She gripped my wrist.
“He didn't just tell you I was dead, James.”
May you like
Her eyes filled.
“He made me sign things while I was still learning how to hold a pen.”
