Chapter 10 - The Jacket He Didn't Need
Nia saw Eli again outside the outpatient building two weeks after the collapse.
He was waiting for his father. Nia had an appointment to follow up on her own injury.
Eli raised a hand.
“How’s the shoulder?”
“Almost normal.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t swing the clipboard.”
He winced, and she regretted the sharpness.
“I’m not asking you to answer for him,” she added.
“I know.”
He moved his bag so she could sit.
For a while, they watched people cross the parking lot.
Eli said his clearance for training was still limited. He was relieved by the restriction and embarrassed about the relief.
“I thought I wanted to work in emergency medicine,” he said.
“You can still want that and be frightened by what happened.”
“Dad says once I get through this, people will remember how I came back.”
“What do you want them to remember?”
He looked surprised by the question.
“I don’t know. Maybe that I’m not somebody’s example.”
Hale’s vehicle pulled up before Nia could answer.
He got out carrying a jacket, although the afternoon was hot enough to make the air shimmer above the asphalt.
For a moment, he looked only like an anxious father who had grabbed something his son might need.
Then he saw Nia.
“Brooks.”
“Sir.”
Eli stood slowly.
“I told you I’d wait here,” he said.
Hale held out the jacket.
“The building’s cold.”
“I’m outside now.”
Hale lowered his hand but didn’t put the jacket away.
Nia rose.
“I’ll let you get going.”
“Has she been asking you about the equipment?” Hale asked his son.
“No.”
“Because these conversations can be misunderstood.”
Eli tightened his grip on the bag.
“We were talking about me.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
The answer seemed to frustrate Hale more than an argument would have.
Nia started toward the building. She wasn’t going to stand between them and become the subject of another conversation she hadn’t chosen.
Behind her, Eli spoke again.
“I’m meeting the investigator tomorrow.”
She stopped only because she heard the jacket hit the bench.
“Without discussing it with me?”
“I discussed getting advice. I did that.”
“You don’t know how they’ll use what you say.”
Nia made herself keep walking.
At the glass doors, she glanced back.
May you like
Hale was still standing. Eli had sat down again.
For once, his father would have to decide whether to wait.
