I held my yellow pencil straight against the side of my order pad.

“Did Kim get her furnace fixed yesterday?” I asked.

Judy patted my wrist with two cool fingers.

“Ron took care of the whole bill,” she said.

“You two have always been so independent, Emily.

We never have to lie awake at night worrying about how you’ll make rent.”

Patty called my name from the kitchen window, and I walked away from the booth without another word.

By two o’clock Friday afternoon, the hospital billing office had gone quiet except for the low hum of the ceiling vents and the steady thud of the mail room clerk stamping manila folders down the hall.