Chapter 3

After that day, I sold the last home we had.

A two-bedroom in Somerville. Chase's height marks still climbed the doorframe in Sharpie.

Before Mom died, she took my hand and told me not to sell it.

So that when Adrian and I fought, I'd have somewhere to go home to.

Now, gone.

The money cleared. I'd barely covered the outstanding bill when a nurse came over, uncomfortable.

"Chase's bed is being moved temporarily."

"The Sheffield Family Healing Pavilion opens today. The observation ward is right along the press route."

The elevator doors opened.

Sloane stepped out with the cat, Adrian and a few hospital board members behind her.

Mimi lay in a custom medical pet stroller.

A private veterinarian walked alongside it. A portable oxygen concentrator and a monitor were mounted on the frame.

Chase was wheeled out by an orderly.

The portable oxygen tank rattled beside the bed. His gown hung off him.

Sloane's eyes went red.

"Nora. Mimi has a congenital heart murmur. She startles easily."

"Could Chase cooperate, just this once?"

I looked at her.

"You want a critically ill patient to move for a cat?"

Adrian frowned.

"Don't put it that way. It's a temporary move to the hallway."

"He nearly died last night."

"If Mimi gets startled, the whole Sheffield Foundation opening has to be paused."

So in his world, Chase's life could be moved aside on a moment's notice.

But a cat's mood couldn't be interrupted.

Sloane wheeled the cat past and bent down toward Chase.

"Thank you, Chase."

"Mimi is timid. She's not like people. You can't reason with her."

I lunged forward. Adrian caught my wrist.

"Enough."

"Make one more scene and I'll freeze the money from the house too."

I looked up at him.

"Adrian. You genuinely disgust me."

Two hours, they'd said. It stretched into the whole night.

Chase spiked a fever in the drafty corridor. The only blanket the nurse could find was thin.

"All the heavy ones were reallocated to the Healing Pavilion VIP lounge setup."

Late that night, a passing gurney clipped Chase's bed and knocked the oxygen line loose.

I knelt on the floor and reconnected it with shaking hands.

Chase, delirious with fever, asked,

"Nora. Did I get in the way of their photos?"

Around midnight, Sloane posted to Instagram.

【Mimi was loved by the whole world today. 🤍】

In the photo, Mimi lay on a cashmere throw in front of a wall of windows. Behind her, the Sheffield Family Healing Pavilion opening backdrop.

My brother was curled up on a hallway gurney, his lips cracking from the fever.

They shoved you out into the rain, locked you outside, then opened the door and welcomed someone else into the home that was supposed to be yours.