Chapter 70
Chapter 65: The Unexpected Visitor
Logan’s POV
She appeared in the doorway of Nick’s treatment bay at half past eight.
Clair
I heard her before I saw her from the sound of her footsteps, one that i had gotten used, as i found
myself expecting it after she returned here. Catherine walked differently from most people. She walked with purpose, like she was here for something and was not going to leave until she
achieved what she came here for
She was carrying things. That was the first thing I realized when I looked up, she was carrying a canvas tote bag on one shoulder, a paper bag with handles in her other hand, what looked like a thermos tucked under her arm.
She was wearing a cream-colored coat, her hair down, her expression miex with warmth, concern and a little bit of worry underneath it, like she had heard something bad and was trying not to panick, because panicking was not going to solve the problem.
She took in the room-Nick asleep in the hospital bed, the IV line, the monitors, the general chaos that happened right outside Nick’s ward and she didnt change her expression, which was something that i should have found reassuring but didnt’y.
i hadn’t texted Catherine in three days, nor had i replied to her calls, or told her about today’s incident, so just how did she know to come here.
“Logan.” Her voice was low, considerate of Nick sleeping. “I came as soon as I heard p>
I leaned back in my plastic chair, looking at her properly. “How did you hear p>
“Mrs. Peterson.” She crossed to the second chair, the one that was beside Nick’s bed, the one sedona would be seated on, without budging from it, if she was around and sat down as if she’d been invited to. She set the bags on the floor carefully.
“I came by the house earlier to see you both. I thought-” A small pause, deliberate, arranged. “It’s been a while since we all had dinner together. A proper one, the three of us. I thought I’d invite you over, or offer to cook, or just-” She gestured. “It’s been difficult lately, and I wanted to help. i felt we were growing distant and i wanted to fix that”
I watched her unpack the canvas tote-a container of soup, a smaller container of what looked like pasta, a bread roll wrapped in cloth, a thermos that smelled like coffee or herbal tea.
All of it was still warm, which meant it had been recently made, which meant she’d either prepared
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it before coming or stopped somewhere on the way.
“Mrs. Peterson told you he was here p>
“She seemed worried.” Catherine handed me the thermos. “She said she’d tried two different creams and nothing was working and she looked quite shaken about it, honestly. I told her I’d come and check on you both p>
I turned the thermos over in my hands without opening it. “She shouldn’t have done that p>
Claim
A small hesitation, as her eyes widened slightly before putting on a neutral expression, trying not to think of the implications of my words as she continued speaking.
“She was worried, Logan. She’s devoted to Nick and she didn’t know what else to do. I’m glad she
called p>
Nick shifted on the bed, and we both went quiet. He resettled without waking, pulling the hospital blanket up with his free hand, his face still and young in sleep in the way that made him look like the baby he’d been before I’d had enough attention to pay to notice.
“How is he?” Catherine asked.
“Better. The IV antihistamines are working. They’ll probably discharge him in a few hours once the reaction’s fully controlled.” I set the thermos down on the edge of the bedside table.
“He’s done this before. Sedona always managed it before it got this far p>
The name sat between us as she said nothing, i was watching her expression intentionally to see what she would do, it was like data I needed to collect.
“You still haven’t found her,” Catherine said.
“No p>
She was quiet for a moment, before she nodded her head slowly.
“Can I ask you something?” she said.
“Mm p>
“What are you hoping for? When you find her p>
“I want to know she’s okay,” I said. “She’s sick and she disappeared and no one knows where she is.
I want to know she’s safe p>
“And beyond that p>
I looked at Nick. His chest rising and falling, slow and even. The IV machine doing its quiet work.
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“I don’t know yet,” I said.
Claim
Catherine nodded slowly, like she was processing that, or like she’d expected it and was deciding how to feel about it. She reached into the paper bag and took out the container of soup, setting it
on the bedside table.
“I made chicken soup. Not from a can. I know he likes the real kind.” She said it without emphasis,
matter-of-fact, changing the topic, like it wasn’t relevant to her.
“And there’s pasta in case he wants something more substantial when he wakes up. And the bread
roll is for you because you’ve probably eaten nothing for hours p>
She was right that I hadn’t eaten. I registered that somewhere distant and unimportant.
“That was thoughtful,” I said. “Thank you p>
And I meant it. That was the thing about Catherine that I’d always found easiest and also hardest she was genuinely thoughtful and was considerate to those people she cared about. She’d always
been like that.
It just wasn’t filling the particular absence in this room.
Nick woke up at twenty past nine, rubbing his eyes as he sat upright, the iv line moving with him, but not being disconnected as the nurse had made it long enough so he wasnt limited to a few
moves.
He found me first and some of the tension left his small shoulders. Then he found Catherine.
Something shifted in his face that wasn’t quite a look I had a name for. Not hostility, not exactly. More like the specific disappointment of expecting one thing and finding another.
“Hey, buddy,” I said. “How are you feeling p>
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