“Eva, everyone was always yelling at him,” Paul said. “That’s what we did. We yelled at Bram. Do this! Do that! Get this! Go here! Take care of Mom! Fix up my life!” He lowered his head into his hands. “You want regrets? I’ve got enough to fill a bank vault.”

Dana said, “You know, everything might be okay…I mean, he…we…”

Her voice faded to nothing.

Maggie said, “How could I fall asleep at a time like this?”

Luke said, “Maggie, honey, you didn’t do anything wrong. If Bram were here, he’d tell you to sleep.”

“We’d all sleep if we could,” Paul said.

Luke said, “Only reason why you can sleep and we can’t is your conscience is clean.”

“Amen,” Paul said.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Maggie said.

“It means, like Paul and Eva, I’m wracked with guilt and filled with ‘I should haves.’” Luke’s eyes watered. “You know, I don’t want or expect miracles. I don’t need the Red Sea to split or to walk on water or to see Lazarus rising from the dead. All I want is a chance to talk to him again. Is that asking too fucking much?”

“Amen,” Paul answered.

Dana said, “You came to his rescue, Lucas—”

“No, Dana, he came to my rescue—”

“You know, he’s not…” Dana held back tears. “Stop talking like it’s…final!”

Luke’s eyes shifted upward, over Decker’s shoulder, across the empty lobby. Decker turned around.

Rina.

She wore the same maroon cotton dress she had on for last night’s dinner. Light years ago.

He started toward her, meeting her in the middle of the room. She stared at her husband, lip quivering. The hospital had given him a clean top, but he still had on blood-stained pants. He expected her to explode into tears.

Instead, she said, “What happened to your arm?”

“It’s nothing—”

“Peter—”

“I got shot—”

“Oh my God—”

“Rina, I’m—”

“Can you move it?”

“The arm? Yeah, no problem.” He lowered his voice. “They just have to take the bullet out.”

“They haven’t taken the bullet out?”

Decker sighed. “I was waiting for some news first.”

Rina was quiet, regarded her husband. “Nothing?”

Decker shook his head.

Rina kneaded her hands, remained silent.

“You tell the boys?” Decker asked.

“Nothing specific. I told them I had an emergency and to listen for Hannah on the rare chance that she might wake up.”

“What’d they say?”

“They were half-asleep. I told them to go back to bed. I left their door open.”

Abruptly, Rina embraced her husband.

“Oh, Peter, I can’t take this anymore! Learn in a kol-lel all day. Start your own dog kennel or riding stable. Do anything except what you’re doing. Find another job! I need to sleep at night.”

“This is very unusual—”