“I didn’t see any point in telling you. I planned to turn the position down. I forgot to cancel the interview, so I went through with it.”
She nods again, taking everything in. Her face remains stoic—not mad, but a kind of stillness I haven’t seen on her before.
“Last night, before the tone, I got an email offering me the position.”
“In DC?”
“Yes. In DC.”
She sighs.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “I wasn’t hiding this from you. It seemed … irrelevant.”
“But now?” she asks.
“Now I want you to know. I want to talk about it with you.”
“Okay.”
“What do you think?” I ask. “I know this is out of the blue for you. If you want to talk about it later, we can.”
“Now’s good,” she says, almost too calmly. “Are you considering the position now?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her truthfully. “I want your input.”
“I want you to decide that, Greyson. I would never want to hold you here if your dream job is somewhere else. If you want to know what I want, it’s you. It’s always been you. But I won’t be the reason you stay.”
She pauses, taking my hand again and swallowing hard.
“I’m sorry,” I say. And I am. “This was bad timing.”
“No. It’s okay. I’m just tired—and emotional. We went through a lot. But it’s not bad timing. I’m glad you told me.” She smiles a comforting smile. I’m not sure if she’s trying to comfort me or herself.
“This is your decision, Greyson. But you have a little while now. You’re not going anywhere like this.” She points to my leg.
“Yeah. We have time,” I tell her.
There’s a knock at the door, and the nurse comes in. “Visiting hours are about over. Say your goodbyes.”
Hallie stands. If she were my wife, she could stay here. We probably could ask for permission anyway, but Mia needs her. And I just dropped a bomb. She needs to go home, shower, and rest.
“He’ll be going home tomorrow,” the nurse tells Hallie. “You can come back before he’s discharged if you like. Sometimes they like to take their time letting people out of here.”
Hallie tells the nurse, “Thank you.” Then she turns and places a kiss on my forehead. “Rest, Greyson. We can solve the world’s problems after you’re back home.”
Can we, though? I’m not so sure.
Chapter 35
Hallie
The world breaks everyone, and afterward,
many are strong at the broken places.
~ Ernest Hemmingway
I reluctantly leave Greyson’s side, my thoughts and emotions a thorough jumble. I’m bone-tired. I push the button on the elevator. The doors shut behind me. When they open, I’m staring out into a concrete hallway, confused, then looking back at the panel of buttons as if they betrayed me.
