The urgency in her voice.

The way she’d refused to explain.

I felt a chill run through me.

“Is that why she was hospitalized?”

“Partly.”

He paused.

“But there is more.”

The Part Sarah Never Told Me

The doctor explained that Sarah had recently developed complications requiring additional testing.

Some of the results had raised concerns that needed immediate attention.

“She listed you as her emergency contact,” he said.

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she trusts you.”

I almost laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because after everything that had happened between us, I didn’t know whether trust was the word I’d use.

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

The doctor gave me a sympathetic look.

“That is something you need to ask her.”

He slid the folder toward me.

There were pages of test results, appointment records, and treatment notes.

I didn’t understand most of the medical terminology.

But one thing was obvious.

This had been going on for a long time.

Before Miami.

Before our meeting in the bar.

Before the night we spent together.

Perhaps even before the divorce.

Suddenly, I remembered something.

Three years earlier, during the final months of our marriage, Sarah had started getting tired all the time.

I had blamed stress.

She had blamed work.

Then she began losing weight.

I blamed the divorce.

She had said she was fine.

I had believed her because, at the time, I wanted to believe that everything wrong with our marriage had a simple explanation.

Now I wondered how much I had missed.

Seeing Sarah Again

When I entered her room, she was sitting near the window.

She looked thinner than I remembered.

But when she saw me, she smiled.

It was the same smile I’d known for years.

“Charles.”

I pulled up a chair.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her smile disappeared.

“I knew you would come.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

She looked at her hands.

“I didn’t want you to come.”

I didn’t understand.

“You listed me as your emergency contact.”

“Because I didn’t know who else to put.”