Page 57 of For Fox Sake

It’s late. It’s been an emotional day. I should be exhausted, but I can’t sleep.

My mind spins over everything. Finley is leaving early tomorrow. She needs to get back to camp. I’m going to be following up behind her, after putting in notice at the hospital. My lease here is up next week anyway. I never intended to stay.

Then why does the thought of leaving tear me up inside? I need to find a way to make it up to Ryan and Ari.

Somehow.

* * *

“This is disappointing news. I’m really sorry that you’re leaving us so quickly.”

“I am too. I apologize for any inconvenience.”

Elaine waves a hand. “It happens. I understand family obligations.”

I rub the back of my neck. Here I am, lying again. But I cannot tell Elaine the real reason I’m leaving, especially since it affects Ryan. Another lie to add to the list. Or half lie. I do have to go home because of family, but I invented an emergency. I never intended to stay, so I knew this was coming, but the guilt is still there—just more to add to the pile.

I scoot forward in the guest chair, resting my forearms on her desk. “There’s one thing I wanted to ask you about.”

Her head tilts to one side. “Of course.”

“Mrs. Green, in room 410? I was wondering if I could pay some money toward her balance owed.”

Elaine’s brows lift so high they disappear under her bangs. “You want to pay for her cost of care?”

I rub the back of my neck. “Or a portion of it. I don’t know what’s owed, but I have some money set aside that I would like to put on her account balance. The only thing is, I don’t want Ryan to know it was me. If you could tell her there was an accounting glitch or something, that would be great.”

She clucks and eyes me, then she nods. “You heard what happened then? Word gets around fast. I just called Ryan about an hour ago.”

My skin prickles. What? “What happened?”

Her brows dip. “You didn’t hear?”

I shake my head. “Hear what?”

“Mrs. Green passed this morning.”

I rock back in the chair. Damn. After the bomb I laid on her last night, her mom died.

Fuck.

Chapter Sixteen

Ryan

The ringing phone jerks me from a dead sleep at five o’clock in the morning.

I’ve only been asleep for a few hours, since I spent most of the night making sense of Jake’s confession and looking for the letters I had received from his dad, Ted. That was his name. I never knew his last name. They’re in a box somewhere in one of our closets.

The letters petered out years ago, and I only remember bits and pieces. I don’t recall him mentioning his other kids. He was funny though. And he was so happy that a piece of his daughter, Aria, was out in the world, living and loving and growing. He was like a kindly uncle or something. Connecting those memories with what Jake has told me is like this weird shift in reality and the cognitive dissonance is still ringing in my ears. He’s dead now. Not only did I spend last night grieving who I thought Jake was, I also had to grieve that realization too.

Groggy and confused, I fumble for my cell phone on the nightstand. Is it Ari? What if something is wrong?

“Hello?” The word is a croak.

“Ryan?”

I blink at the shadowed bedroom around me, clearing my vision and trying to comprehend the voice on the other end of the phone. “Elaine?”

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