“You don’t need to hurry up and be all right for our sake.”

I didn’t answer.

I was still learning how to believe her.

PART 13

At a professional development seminar, another young clinician asked me why I had married Chloe.

He was careful with the question, but I could hear the worry behind it.

“Wasn’t she your patient?” he asked.

“How did you know what she really wanted when she was so sick?”