"Then why did you go?" she asked. Eli looked across the curtain toward Tommy's bay. "Because he needed someone," he said. "And I was there."
Sophie considered that without smiling. "You have to come home for breakfast," she told him. Eli promised he would try, knowing that the doctors might not release him that early, and that he owed his daughter an explanation longer than anything a hospital phone call could hold.
After the call ended, Eli lay awake beneath the thin blanket and stared at his injured arm. He had not expected the crisis to bring back memories of Natalie, but it had. He remembered the last days of her illness, how she used to wake after midnight and ask whether Sophie had eaten enough, whether he had paid the water bill, whether he was sleeping. Even while dying, she worried about the ways an ordinary family might lose its footing.
He had promised her that Sophie would have a home where she was safe and loved. The promise had always seemed to require him to avoid danger, avoid conflict, hold onto paychecks, and make himself small enough to keep the household stable. Yet at Ward Industrial Vehicles he had refused to make himself small. He had lost his job for it, and tonight he had run toward the same danger because a child was trapped inside. He did not know whether Natalie would have called him brave or impossibly foolish. He suspected she would have called him both before demanding that he rest.
Just before midnight, a quiet knock sounded at his curtain. Vanessa stood outside holding a paper bag from the hospital cafeteria. She did not enter until he nodded. "I thought you might be hungry," she said.
Eli looked at the bag, then at her. "The nurses brought me a sandwich," he replied. "But thank you."
She remained by the doorway, looking uncomfortable in a way he had never seen at work. "I found the termination notice," she said. "My signature is on it." Eli waited.
Vanessa swallowed. "I don't remember seeing your full inspection report. I remember Ron telling me we'd had an employee refusing a lawful release instruction. He said it was a performance issue. I accepted it."
"I know," Eli said. Vanessa blinked. "How?" He gave a tired half smile that contained no humor.
"Because if you'd read the report, you would've asked different questions." He did not say it to wound her. That was what made it difficult to hear.
Vanessa took a breath. "I would like to help with your medical expenses," she said. "And with the wages you lost. I don't want you worrying about money while you recover."
Eli looked at the cafeteria bag in her hand. "There will be bills," he admitted. "I'm not going to pretend there won't be. But let's not make any agreement in this room tonight. Tommy's still being examined, and everybody is scared."