Chapter 56

Each time the electronic doors clicked and swooshed with the arrival of anyone entering the waiting area, Beau and I stopped whatever we were doing-talking, resting, playing on our phones-to look up. I couldn't speak for him, but I kept hoping someone would come out to tell me there'd been some sort of change in my dad's condition. When Masyn came through the double doors twenty minutes later, looking worse than when she went in, my heart hammered in my chest and I feared the worst.

I stood and met her in the middle of the waiting room. Her thin arms circled my waist, and she pressed her cheek against my chest. There she released the emotion of the last two days, soaking my shirt. I stroked her hair and cradled her tightly, waiting for a sign that she could hold herself up. The doors opened and closed twice more before she pushed back and patted me on the chest as though I'd been the one who needed comforting.

"You want to sit down?" I tried to lean over to whisper in her ear, whi