“Dr. Melendez seemed hopeful.”

“Hopeful.” Jax smiled at Caleb’s small giggle. A triceratops fell to the ground after an intense battle. “I’ll take hopeful.”

Hopeful filled Jax’s tank for only eighteen hours, when she started to grow impatient at the start of visiting hours the next day. She watched Gretchen’s face closely until Amanda told her to back away. She paced and huffed and complained. The whole drive to and from Caleb’s preschool served to fill her mind with more questions and annoyances.

“Oh my God!” Apparently, Amanda had had enough. “Sit down and shut up. You’re driving me crazy.”

“I’m not as good at sitting around and doing nothing as you are.” Her retort was met with a death stare. She regretted her words instantly and started to wish she could disappear.

Amanda stood from her chair, the one she had rarely left for the past fourteen days, and stepped up to Jax. “What did you just say?”

She swallowed hard. Amanda’s dark, hard eyes reminded Jax of her mother-in-law, a woman she was wholly terrified of. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Sitting around and doing nothing,” Amanda mimicked. Anyone overhearing would’ve thought they were sisters by blood, if not for their vastly different appearances. Amanda’s mahogany skin didn’t mask her face, red with anger. “How exactly did I misinterpret that?”

“I’m not saying you misinterpreted. I think I could’ve said it better.”

“How about you try again?” Amanda crossed her arms over her chest.

She searched her rattled brain for the most diplomatic phrasing she could come up with. “I’m not okay with waiting. It makes me nervous and anxious, and I don’t have the patience you do.”

“You think I’m okay? You don’t think I’m anxious or nervous while I sit and do nothing? I’m waiting for my baby sister to prove she can take a breath on her own, and you think I’m okay?”

Jax shook her head and readied herself for one last try. “Look, Gretchen has been a part of my life for almost half of it. I know how this feels for me, and I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like for you. I meant no offense.” She rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, trying to ward off the anxious hot flash creeping up her neck. She knew she was beet red. “You have been at her side and taking care of Caleb—she’s lucky to have you.”

Amanda’s jaw flexed, and her eyes started to well with heavy tears. “You don’t even—” She stopped to collect herself, barely having any control over her emotions. Her words sounded thick. “You stopped loving her and you left her. I hate you for that.”

Jax felt blindsided by this characterization of their split. “She asked for the divorce.”

“But you left. You wanted that divorce but were too much of a coward to be the bad guy. Why? Did you not want Caleb to resent you?”

Jax shook her head forcefully. “No.”