“I’ll just wait for Daddy,” she said when Alex told her it was time to go home.

“Dad isn’t coming,” Alex said.

“Of course he is. He always comes for me.”

“He died, Mom. Ten years ago. You know this.”

“Why would you say such an awful thing?” she asked, horrified. “What have we ever done to you to deserve such behavior? We’ve loved you and cared for you and put up with your nonsense.”

Nonsense, he wanted to ask. What nonsense? As far as he knew, he and his brother had been model sons. But if he asked the question, it would only further agitate her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“I’m waiting for your father, and that’s the end of it.”

“Marion,” David said as he came into the room. “I just heard from George, and he said he got tied up at a job. He wants you to go home with Alex, and he’ll meet you there.”

Alex waited breathlessly to hear what she’d say.

“Well, let’s go, Alex. I don’t want to keep your father waiting.”

As Alex pushed the wheelchair out of the room, he looked at David. “I could kiss you right now,” Alex said under his breath.

“That’s a lovely offer, but I think I’ll pass.”

David walked alongside Alex as he pushed the chair to the main door of the clinic. “You’re a lifesaver, David. In more ways than one.”

“Happy to help. Call me if you need anything—day or night.”

“We’ll never be able to properly thank you.”

“You don’t need to. This is why I spent all those years in school. I wanted to be able to help people.”

“You’re making one hell of a difference for our family. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“That’s nice to hear. I’ll wait with your mom while you get the truck.”

Alex jogged across the parking lot, taking note of a few aches and pains he couldn’t attribute entirely to the hard work he did every day. He’d been dying to call Jenny, just to hear her voice if nothing else, but he’d held off until he could focus entirely on her.

With the air-conditioning blasting, he drove up to the clinic entrance and got out to help his mother into the truck.

“Turn down that horrible air-conditioning, Alex. I’m freezing.”

“You have to be the only person in the state of Rhode Island who’s freezing today.”

David laughed at their banter as he waved them off and went back inside with the wheelchair.

“You’re driving too fast,” his mother said when Alex pulled out of the clinic onto Ocean Road.

“I’m barely moving.”

“Don’t talk back to your mother.”