I gave him this one last chance, with my eyes, to step down out of the audience and into his own life, to pick up his share of the terror and the love and become, for once, a participant.

I did not have much hope left.

But I gave him the chance, because Hazel deserved for me to have given him every last one.

Chapter 15 — Tell Yourself the Truth

“Liam,” I said.

Just his name, spoken level and clear across that awful room, not pleading and not shouting, and I said it again, patiently, until at last he raised his head and his eyes met mine, reluctant and hunted, across that awful room.

“If you walk out those doors right now,” I told him, and I kept my voice quiet and even so that every word would land, “while your four-month-old daughter is sitting here waiting to see a doctor, then I need you to promise me one thing.