“When are you visiting?”
“Tomorrow.”
I sighed.
“I’ll drive you.”
Taryn frowned.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
The next afternoon, I drove them to the hospital.
Neither girl talked much during the trip. Brielle kept twisting the sleeve of her sweater while Taryn stared through the window and pretended she wasn’t nervous.
When we arrived, I fully intended to wait downstairs.
Then Brielle asked, “Will you come up with us?”
Every part of me wanted to say no.
Instead, I heard myself answer, “For a few minutes.”
Colette looked smaller than I remembered.
That was my first thought when I saw her.
Her hair was short and uneven from treatment, and illness had changed the shape of her face enough that I had to search for the woman I once knew.
Then she looked at me.
Twelve years disappeared and somehow remained between us at the same time.
