“Raymond?” I called into the quiet hallway.

Nothing answered me.

I dropped my heavy suitcase by the door and went straight to his bedroom, my heart already climbing into my throat, the note still in my hand.

Chapter 2 — Giselle, You’re Finally Back

I found him lying on his side, under a blanket far too thin for how cold the room had been allowed to get.

Raymond had advanced pancreatic cancer, and by then he needed help to do almost anything, even to sit up.

He was weak, and dehydrated, and he had plainly been alone for a long time.

I am a surgeon; I have seen a great many people in a great many conditions, and I have learned to keep my hands steady and my voice calm no matter what is in front of me.

I kept them steady now.

But something broke, quietly and permanently, in the middle of my chest, and it has never fully mended.

“Giselle,” he whispered, when he saw me.

“You’re finally back.”

I did not let myself fall apart, because falling apart would not have helped him, and helping him was the only thing that mattered in that room.

I turned the heat back on.