“She collapsed.”
His voice tightened.
“She needs long-term treatment and probably surgery later. Insurance covers part. Not everything.”
“How much are you working?”
“Here mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Delivery apps. Catering sometimes.”
“How many hours?”
Sam shrugged.
“Enough.”
“That isn't a number.”
“Sixty. Seventy some weeks.”
Margaret stared.
“And you still risked your job this morning.”
Sam looked embarrassed.
“I didn't think about it.”
“Yes, you did.”
He looked up.
“You were afraid.”
Sam said nothing.
“You defended me anyway.”
“My mother raised me better than that.”
Margaret smiled faintly.
“That she did.”
She asked where Clara received care.
Sam answered.
Margaret wrote the name down.
Then she asked one final question.
“If you had known who I was, would you have done anything differently?”
Sam thought about it.
“Yes.”
Margaret raised an eyebrow.
“I would've been more nervous.”
Daniel laughed.
Margaret did too.
The tension broke.
“Go back to work,” Margaret said.
Sam stood.
At the door, she stopped him.