“I’m sorry.”

“Apology reluctantly accepted.” His speech was halting as he worked around the respirator.

Sam let out a sigh of relief mixed with a laugh and flopped into the chair by his bed. “I’ve been fighting with you and Nick today. All I need is a good row with Scotty to make it a perfect trifecta.”

“I’m not going lie to you.” He took a couple of breaths. “You pissed me off earlier, but I realized...” More breathing. “I’m not pissed at you. I’m pissed at Brooke.”

“We all are. Mike put it best. Half of him wants to kill her and the other half is bargaining with God to get her through it with her life intact.”

“Yes, exactly,” Skip said, his eyes closing. “Tracy was so upset when I was there earlier.”

“She was sleeping when I was there.”

“Good.”

“You should get some sleep too. You can’t afford to get run down before the surgery.”

“I’m fine. What’s the latest?”

Sam took him through her day and what she and Avery had learned in Virginia as well as the frustrating conversation with Hoda’s mother.

“Put out an APB for the kid and the car?”

“Already done, and Archie’s trying to get a bead on her phone.” She told him about her conversation with the chief and how she’d wrangled her way back onto the case. “He told me when his head inevitably explodes it’ll be my fault.”

Skip smiled as brightly as he was able to with half his face frozen by paralysis. “You drive him crazy.”

“I know. It’s one of my special gifts. Driving the men in my life crazy.”

“And you do it so well. Wish I could be at your meeting.”

“I do too, but I’d rather you get some sleep.” She stood up and leaned over to kiss his forehead. “Sorry again about the low blow.”

“It was low, but it wasn’t entirely untrue.”

She smiled at him. “Love you, old man.”

“Who you calling old?”

Her smile widened at the saucy reply. “See you tomorrow.”

“Love you too, baby girl.”

Having made peace with the other most important man in her life, Sam knew she’d most likely be able to sleep tonight.

“All better?” Celia asked when Sam walked into the kitchen.

She wasn’t surprised her stepmother knew about their spat earlier. “All better.”

“That’s good. He doesn’t need another night without sleep.”

“That’s what I told him too. We’ve got to run. My work people are coming at ten.”

“Have you heard anything about how Tommy made out in court today?” Celia asked.

“Not yet,” Sam said, ashamed to realize she’d forgotten all about the important hearing. To Nick she said, “Have you heard from Christina?”

“Not a thing.”

“Oh, God,” Sam said. “I hope everything is okay.”