Page 193 of Time Stops With You

“For what?”

I swallow hard.

Her quiet voice wafts through the room. “It was you who helped me get my visa after years of being denied, wasn’t it?”

My eyes wander to the ceiling. Imayhave used my government connections to pull a few strings at immigration. Not enough to break any laws but just to show that Mrs. Davis had a sponsor in the States.

“If you’d stopped there, I wouldn’t have been any wiser. But then you had to pay for my flight.”

“I didn’t?—”

“Cullen, I may be old but I’m not an idiot. That email from the airline claiming I won a raffle I never entered was far too convenient.” She smiles sadly. “When I spoke to Josiah, he often mentioned that there was a famous programmer at his school. I thought you were a teacher who was invested in mentoring him, but when I found out it was you, I realized that you’d have both the means and the motive to bring me here.”

I clear my throat. “Mrs. Davis?—”

“You wanted me to come for Nardi, didn’t you?”

I remain silent, my eyes on the ground.

“This sickness you’re suffering from, you aren’t going to get better.”

It’s not a question, so I don’t answer it.

“Does Nardi know?”

“She found out this weekend,” I say.

Her eyes drill into me. “And Josiah?”

“He doesn’t know, but I did mention that I was going on a long trip.”

She bobs her head. “If you knew that you weren’t going to survive, why did you take Nardi to the hospital? Why are you still hanging around my children?”

“I…” I raise my head to look her in the eyes as I say, “Josiah is like the son I never had. He’s incredibly bright and I want the best for him and his future. And Nardi…”

“What about Nardi?” She challenges.

“I love her.”

“Love,” Mrs. Davis snorts. “Love is the reason my daughter walks around like a ghost with tear-stained eyes? Love is the reason you look like death warmed over? This torture is what you calllove?”

I swallow hard.

“If you knew you weren’t going to stay, you shouldn’t have started anything with her in the first place. Do you think Nardi’s a robot? Do you think Josiah’s a computer you can command at will?”

“No, of course not.”

“You treat them like tools you can use and then throw away when you’re done with them! Are they that worthless in your eyes to be discarded so cruelly?”

A lump forms in my throat and tears press the back of my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. “I’m sorry.”

There’s nothing else I can say. Nothing I can do to fix this.

“I know you have your own issues. You didn’t ask to be sick. I’m sorry for that too, but I’m a mother.” She smacks her chest and it thuds loudly in the silence. “When my child cries, I cry. When she breaks, I break. I’ve seen Nardi fall apart before and I don’t want to see that ever again.” Mrs. Davis breathes out shakily. “Did she tell you? About the boy she chased all the way to America?”

Slowly, I nod. “She said they were engaged.”

“They weren’t just engaged. They thought they were pregnant.”

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