Chapter 3

I got to the Blue Cove Café as fast as I could.

The whole way there I kept telling myself that as long as I got the money to save my mother, I could swallow the disgust of Serena Vaughn's house and settle accounts with him later.

But when I pushed open the glass door and reached the table by the window, my feet froze where they were.

Martin sat on the couch with a boy of four or five in his arms, holding the child's hand and gently teaching him to snap Legos together.

Serena sat beside him in a white knit sweater, leaning boneless and soft against his arm, now and then reaching up to fix his collar.

Three glasses of juice on the table, and a small sliced cake.

Warm. Cozy.

Anyone who didn't know would have thought they were the family of three.

And I was the beggar who'd wandered into someone else's happiness.

I bit down on the soft flesh inside my cheek, swallowed the taste of blood, and walked over.

"Where's the money?"

Martin looked up and frowned.

Serena shrank back behind him.

"Frieda, don't blame Martin."

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have troubled him at a time like this, but I really had no other way…"

Martin patted the back of her hand, then turned to me, his tone full of reproach.

"Can you not always have that cold face on, scaring people?"

I stared at him.

"I'm asking you. Where's the money."

Less than an hour left before the donor kidney would be given to someone else.

Martin picked up his coffee and took a sip, avoiding my eyes.

"That two hundred thousand, I just transferred it to Serena."

Something roared in my head. All I could hear was ringing.

"What did you say?"

Martin raised his head, self-righteous.

"Serena's ex-husband came making trouble. He wants custody of the child."

"She urgently needs money to hire the best lawyer, and to pay the deed tax on the school-district house."

"Frieda, your mom's surgery can wait a little longer, but a child can't be without his mother."

"You grew up without a father yourself, didn't you? You of all people should understand how that feels."

I was shaking all over, and even breathing cut like a knife.

"My mother is lying in a hospital waiting on this money to save her life, and you're telling me it's a matter of life and death?"

"Serena's custody case is life and death, and my mother's life doesn't count?!"

Serena's eyes reddened, and the tears rolled down.

"Frieda, if you have to blame someone, blame me."

"Once I win the case, I promise I'll work and pay you back…"

Martin pulled out a tissue and handed it to her to wipe her eyes, then turned and glared at me.

"Frieda, you are being completely unreasonable!"

"Your mom's been on dialysis for five years. What difference does a few more months make?"

"Do you have to push Serena to a dead end?!"

I looked at the way he shielded Serena.

This was the man I'd loved for five years.

He wasn't stupid. He just didn't care.

Martin stood up and straightened his suit.

"I'm flying to Los Angeles tonight for work, to handle her ex-husband's business for her."

"She's not doing well, so I'll take her along to clear her head while I'm at it."

"Calm down on your own. Stop acting like a shrew all the time."

"When I get back, I'll figure something out for your mom's surgery."

He took the child's hand with one hand and shielded Serena with the other, and brushed past me.

I watched their backs and didn't cry.

The tears had already run dry during the day.

I took out my phone and glanced at it.

Eleven fifty.

The kidney was gone.

I turned and walked out of the café, and went back to the hospital like a walking corpse.

I pushed open the ward door.

The bed was empty.

The quilt was folded neat and square, not a single crease in it.

On the nightstand, pinned down, was a discharge and payment bill.