"Please… take me…"
"To the hospital…"
Naomi shook her head at him. "No."
Leonard glanced at Naomi, clenched his jaw, and said, "Fine. Go run the bath."
Whatever hope I'd still been holding onto died right there.
For the sake of Naomi's surgery, my life wasn't worth a second thought to Leonard.
By some mercy, the fever broke the next morning.
Leonard made congee for breakfast—brought it to me himself, looking almost guilty.
"Connie, I made this just for you."
"Naomi says keep it bland today. Surgery's tomorrow."
I looked at it, then dropped the bowl into the trash.
I didn't say a single word to Leonard for the rest of the day.
It wasn't until I got up in the middle of the night for water that his voice drifted through the crack in the bedroom door.
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"Once she's done with the surgery, I'll bring up the breakup. Definitely."
"Isn't that the whole point right now? I'm just keeping her happy so you can get your surgery. All right? Come on, stop being mad…"
I wasn't surprised. Actually, something in my chest loosened.
I sat in the living room for the rest of the night.
When Leonard found me there at dawn, he took a startled step back.
"Why are you up so early?"
I stood. "Waiting for you two. Let's go to the hospital for the surgery."
"Didn't you say we'd get our marriage license once it's done?"
"Leonard, I've thought it through."
The surprise on his face gave way to relief he didn't even try to hide. Last night he'd been worried I'd make a scene at the hospital and wreck the whole procedure. Now everything was going exactly his way.
Leonard drove me and Naomi to the hospital.
Naomi went off to handle pre-op prep. Leonard stationed himself outside my room.
"I'm going to go change," I told him.
He didn't follow. Why would he? I was cooperating.
I walked with a nurse toward the changing room, and the moment the hallway was crowded enough, I turned and walked the other way.
I rode the elevator down with the crowd and walked out of the inpatient building.
"The airport, please."
The driver hit the gas, and the hospital shrank behind me.
Leonard sat in the room waiting. Minutes stretched. No one came back. Eventually the silence made him uneasy enough to get up and look.
"Where's Constance? She was just changing."
The nurse frowned. "She finished changing and left a while ago."
Cold sweat broke across his body. He searched the entire inpatient wing. I was nowhere.
Call after call after call. I rejected every one. Leonard lost it.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen and exhaled like a man pulled from water. "Connie, did you get lost?"
"Tell me where you are. I'll come get you—"
"I'm at the airport."
"Leonard, let's break up."
Airport announcements echoed through the line. The phone trembled in his hand, his knuckles turning white.
