“Mom!” Sarah said brightly. “Look at you! You’re awake!”
She came over and kissed my cheek. She smelled like perfume and coffee. She set the roses on the tray table, right next to my Jell-O.
“We were here all day yesterday,” she said. “You were so out of it. We didn’t want to wake you.”
“The nurse said you left,” I said, “because of the parking.”
Sarah’s smile flickered. Just for a second.
“Oh, that was Michael,” she said with a little laugh. “He was being dramatic. You know how he is.”
“Hey,” Michael said. He tied the balloon to the foot of my bed. “It was thirty-two bucks, Ma. That’s highway robbery.”
“Thirty-two dollars,” I said. “That’s highway robbery.”
He grinned. He didn’t hear what I meant. Michael never did.
David came around the other side of the bed. He kissed my forehead. He pulled up a chair.
