Nathan looked at his hands.
“She was asking for you.”
The sentence landed exactly where Aaron feared.
Nathan saw it.
“I’m not saying that to hurt you.”
“It hurts anyway.”
“I know.”
Aaron breathed through it.
“Did she know I was coming?”
“Yes.”
“Did she think I didn’t?”
Nathan shook his head. “No. I told her you were on the way. She said you always got lost near the hospital parking garage.”
Aaron laughed helplessly.
“I do.”
“She knew.”
That did not make the timing fair. It gave Aaron one fact he could hold without inventing a better ending.
The next day they found a stack of hospital parking receipts in their mother’s handbag. Aaron recognized the one sticking from the side pocket at the gate. Nathan had been there almost every day.
Aaron spread them across the kitchen table.
“How much work did you miss?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Nathan.”
“Enough.”
“Did you lose money?”
“Yes.”
Aaron reached for his wallet.
Nathan’s chair scraped back.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not trying to pay you for Mom.”
“That’s exactly what it looks like.”
Aaron stopped.
