“We are leaving right now.

You can sleep in your old room, and I will wake you at seven with breakfast before you drive to the office.”

Ethan hovered between sitting and standing, his posture bent, his face pale under the neon fluorescent lights.

“Mom, wait,” Ethan stammered.

“Rachel is here alone with June…”

“Rachel is a nurse,” Sylvia said, her hand tightening on his arm.

“She knows how hospitals work.