There was a man sitting alone who gave me a curious look as we looked for a spot to situate the five of us. He was the kind of guy I might have imagined as a kid’s baseball coach, with a bit of a belly, short hair, and a soft expression with lines in the forehead. As easygoing as he looked in the moment, I could imagine him getting really intense in the right occasion.

He stood when he saw me, and that got my attention.

I left the group to approach him.

“Do I know you?”

“Not yet,” he said. Before he continued, I was already placing his voice from the phone. “We had an appointment today. I’m Dr. Darnall.”

“Oh,” I said. I felt momentarily awkward and weirded out both. “I’m sorry to reschedule on you.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “Both reschedules were for very good reasons.”

Outpatient surgery and this.

“You’re here, though.”

“I was asked to consult,” he said. “When you rescheduled to attend, I realized the connection to this. I thought I’d look in and see how he made out, and get our first meeting out of the way, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“I’m not worried,” I said. “I’m just trying to work out a lot of things, and timing gets awkward.”

“Absolutely,” he said. He had an easygoing tone. “Is that the team you’re looking after?”

“Kind of. They’re not so much a team anymore, but I do want to look after them.”

The group was all together, talking, with Sveta being the one to look momentarily exasperated. Each one of them was glancing my way now and again, checking on me. When the door opened, they would look, waiting to see if we’d see Rain or Ashley.

“Understood,” he said.

“They’re catching up after a week of everyone going their own way.”

“You don’t need to justify or explain, Victoria. These things are complicated. If you want to talk about it someday, we can. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine too.”

“I’d rather they had therapists than I had one,” I said.

“I’d like it if they had therapists too, but I don’t have the room in my schedule. When the plane is going down, it’s important to put your own oxygen mask on first. If we can’t address all of their issues, we can at least help you enough that you can help them. If you want.”

“Mrs. Yamada—you know her, right?”

“I do. We were friends. I attended her cousin’s wedding with her. As a friend of hers.”

Weird to think about. I’d never heard mention of a cousin.

“She thought something really bad was going on with this group. It could be really serious.”