Chapter 2

A sharp crack, and the corridor went quiet.

The nurses and family members passing by all turned to look.

Martin's face was still turned to one side, a clear red mark rising on his left cheek.

He turned back, anger held down in his eyes.

"Frieda, have you lost your mind?"

I was shaking all over, nails digging into my palms.

"Give me my money back."

Martin rubbed the space between his brows and lowered his voice, like he was coaxing a child who didn't know any better.

"I already told you, that money was only lent to Serena for an emergency."

"Without a house in a top school district, her kid can't get into a good school. That's her child's whole future we're talking about."

"How do you not have a shred of sympathy?"

I laughed, furious.

Tears struck the back of my hand, scalding.

"Her kid getting into school is a big deal."

"My mother is lying in there waiting on a kidney to save her life, and that isn't?"

Martin's expression shifted. He thought I was just being unreasonable.

"Can you stop twisting things around?"

"Your mother's illness is chronic. Dialysis keeps her going. She's made it five years that way, hasn't she?"

"But Serena has no one to turn to right now. As her friend, I can't just stand by and watch her drown."

Friend.

What a noble friend.

Back when my mother was first diagnosed with kidney failure, he held my hand and said, "Frieda, from now on you and your mother have me to lean on."

Now he was taking the money meant to save her life and playing savior to somebody else.

"Martin, that three hundred thousand took me borrowing from every relative I have, and even mortgaging my mother's old house to scrape together."

I stared at him.

"What gives you the right to hand it over as a favor to someone else?"

His lips moved, but impatience swallowed whatever it was.

"When did you get so sharp and mean?"

"Where did the gentle, considerate Frieda go?"

"It's not like I'm not paying you back. Once Serena's back on her feet, I'll put the money together again. Do you really have to make a scene and embarrass me?"

I didn't even have the strength left to be angry.

"Midnight tonight. No money, no kidney."

"Go pull that money back out. Now."

Martin frowned.

"The sale's already gone through the paperwork. How am I supposed to pull out? Who pays the penalty?"

"You won't be satisfied until Serena and her son are out on the street?"

I didn't want to hear any more.

I turned toward the elevator.

Martin grabbed my wrist, gripping hard enough to make the bone ache.

"Where are you going?"

I shook him off.

"To get the money for my mother."

"From now on, you'd better pray she makes it through tonight."

He called after me, "Frieda, don't do something rash!"

I didn't look back.

I ran out of the hospital and started making call after call.

"Aunt Susan, can you lend me another fifty thousand... the kidney came through, I'm just a little short..."

"Frieda, honey, it's not that I won't. You still haven't paid back what you borrowed before. Your uncle already got into it with me over it..."

"Will, for the sake of all the years we worked together..."

"Sorry, Frieda, I just bought a car, money's really tight right now..."

From daylight into the dark.

I crossed the whole city and swallowed every cold look.

A few hundred here, a few thousand there trickled in over Venmo. All of it together came to less than a hundred thousand.

Two hundred thousand short of three hundred.

Ten at night.

I stood in the late-autumn wind.

My phone rang.

Martin.

His voice carried the easy lightness of a man doing a favor.

"Frieda, quit sulking and come to the Blue Cove Café."

"The last two hundred thousand, I put it together for you."

In that moment, my dead heart gave a violent jolt.