One thing off of my to-do list. I liked the progress. Progress was good. So long as I moved forward, I could stay aloft.

I cleared off the remainder of the bookshelves, stacking the boxes. I scribbled out my notes on the lid, checking the contents.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I said.

Gilpatrick.

“Time for me to go?” I asked.

“Nah,” he said. “There’s a bit. I don’t want to force you out the door like that.”

“Okay,” I said. I raised an eyebrow.

“I was thinking, over the past twelve hours, if you were my student, I wouldn’t want to let you go with things like this. Normally I’d contact a guardian.”

My heart skipped a beat at that. No.

“But you said last night you had a family thing to do. I can connect dots.”

I nodded.

“I made some phone calls,” he said.

He stepped out of the doorway.

Mrs. Yamada. Shorter than me, hair tied back in a simple ponytail, wearing a skirt, white top, and jacket, with a simple, short string of pearls at her collarbone.

“Oh wow,” she said. “Look at you.”

I didn’t have words, so I just lifted my arms to either side and let them fall.

“Is this okay?” Gilpatrick asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I swallowed. “Yeah. Just about perfect.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said.

Jessica blinked a few times, before fanning herself. “I’m a little misty eyed. Sorry.”

I was a little misty eyed myself.

“Can I give you a hug?” she asked. When I nodded, she did so. I hugged her back.

“You put me down as your emergency contact?” she asked.

“Sorry,” I said. “I—I honestly forgot I did that. It was more than a year ago.”

I’d had to name someone, and I hadn’t named my parents because—

Because.

“It’s more than alright,” she said. “Your boss said he was worried about you.”

I opened my mouth to reply, and then the waterworks started instead.

⊙

Jessica slammed the back hatch of her car, most of the boxes settled inside.

“Do you want to walk?” she asked. “Around the block, maybe? Or we could step back inside.”

If I was going to start crying again.

Students were just now starting to appear, and I didn’t want to sit still.

“We can walk,” I said.

“It’s been amazing to hear your voice,” she said. “I know you were often frustrated, trying to communicate with the means you had available. I was frustrated too, but I wasn’t allowed to say that.”

“I could tell,” I said.

“You were a challenging patient, those first few months—”

I snorted.