Kate rose. "Thank you, Dr. Schmidt. For everything."
He made an it's-nothing gesture with his hand. "This is my job."
Smiling, she headed for the door. She was nearly there when he called her name again. She turned. "Yes?"
"There are not many reporters left, but is it acceptable to report on your husband's condition? We would very much like them to leave."
"I'll think about it."
"Excellent."
Kate left his office and went to the elevator at the end of the hall.
The cafeteria was mostly empty on this late Thursday afternoon. There were a few groups of employees gathered around the rectangular tables and a few families ordering food. It was easy to tell which group was which. The employees were laughing and talking while they ate; the patients' families were quiet and still, staring down at their food and looking up at the clock every few minutes.
Kate made her way through the tables to the window. Outside, the sky was a dark, steely gray; any moment it would start to rain or snow.
Even with the distortion of the glass, she could see how tired she looked, how spent.
It was odd, but somehow it was harder to be alone with her relief than with her despair. Then, she'd wanted mostly to sit quietly and blank out her mind and try to imagine the best. Now she wanted to laugh with someone, to smile and raise a glass in celebration and say she'd known all along it would end like this.
No. Not someone.
Tully.
For all of Kate's life, Tully had been the first line of celebration, the party just waiting to happen. Her best friend would toast crossing the street safely if that was what Kate wanted.
Turning away from the window, she went over to the table and sat down.
"You look like you could use a drink."
Kate looked up. Tully stood there, dressed in crisp black jeans and a white boat-necked angora sweater. Although her hair and makeup were perfect, she looked tired. And nervous.
"You're still here?"
"You thought I'd leave you?" Tully tried to smile, but it wasn't the real thing. "I brought you a cup of tea."
Kate stared at the Styrofoam cup in Tully's hand. She knew it was her favorite—Earl Grey—doctored with just the right amount of sugar.
It was the only apology Tully knew how to make for what she'd done. If Kate accepted it, she knew that the episode would have to be forgotten—the betrayal and the slap would have to dissolve into nothing so they could step back onto the track that had connected their lives. No regrets, no grudges. They'd be TullyandKate again, or as close to that as grown women could be.
"The story was good," she said evenly.
Tully's eyes pleaded for forgiveness and understanding, but what she said was, "I'm getting the news nook for next week. It's a replacement gig, but it's a start."
Kate thought,So that's what you sold me out for,but knew she couldn't say it. Instead, she said, "Congratulations."
Tully held out the cup of tea. "Take it, Katie. Please."
Kate looked at her friend for a long time. She wanted the gift of words—I'm sorry—but knew they'd never come. Tully simply wasn't wired that way. Kate had never known exactly how it had happened, Tully's inability to apologize, but she suspected that it had something to do with Cloud. There was some bit of her best friend that had been damaged beyond repair as a child, and this, somehow, was the scar. Finally, she reached for the cup, saying, "Thanks."
Tully grinned and sat down beside her. Before she'd even scooted up to the table, she was talking.
Soon, Tully had Kate laughing. That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
As bad as that year was, Kate knew every moment that it could have been so much worse. The man she brought home from Germany bore only the merest resemblance to her husband in those first few months. His brain was slow in healing, and sometimes he lost patience with himself when a word outran him or an idea couldn't be latched on to. She spent endless hours with him in rehab, both working with him and his physical therapist and waiting in the lobby with Marah.
