"Is there really nothing you've been hiding from me?" I asked softly.
Phineas hadn't yet figured out how to brush me off when the girl's voice cut in again:
"Who are you on the phone with? Is it that fiancée of yours?"
She pitched her voice up on purpose, all sugary and coaxing. "Phin, can't you stop fussing over other people for once? I haven't even been to Searborough yet. You have to take me out more, okay?"
After that, Phineas didn't deny it right away.
He lowered his voice, smiling as he made his promise, "Don't be like that. Once we're settled, I'll take you out for dessert."
Something sour rose in my chest.
There was an intimacy in his words that crossed a line, and Phineas still thought I couldn't hear it.
Only once he'd soothed the girl did he turn his attention back to me:
"We're about to board. Beryl, be good. Wait for me to come back."
After gentling me along like a pet, he ended the call himself for the first time.
I fell back against the bed.
The registry's match text had already come through to my phone.
Two people had come back as preliminary matches.
One was that girl. The other was overseas.
And yet, over the phone, Phineas hadn't said a single word about the match.
The next day, I'd just finished breakfast when Phineas appeared in the doorway of my ward, travel-worn and rumpled.
He hugged me carefully, his voice aching with the kind of tenderness you give something fragile. "Beryl, you really have lost weight."
I murmured back, letting Phineas fuss around me, adjusting the bed.
But over his shoulder, I caught sight of a figure in the doorway.
The girl wore a brightly colored dress, fresh and radiant, wildly out of place in this hospital room.
Nothing like me, drained of life.
"Her name is Mona Carlton."
Phineas said it warmly, his warm fingertips brushing my cheek. "Still a college student. Quirky little thing. I'm sure you'll find her charming too."
His tone was easy and open, without a trace of guilt.
As if this girl who'd taken up three months of his time were just an ordinary friend.
Mona stepped into the room and tugged at Phineas's sleeve.
"Beryl, Phin's told me so much about you," she greeted sweetly.
Phineas lifted his hand right on cue and patted the top of her head.
Watching them, so easy and close, my heart sank, little by little.
"Phineas." I leaned back, slipping out of his arms. "I already got the text from the registry."
They both froze at once, and at the same instant looked away from me.
I pressed my pale lips together. "This Miss Mona must be the matched volunteer, then. Should she go get a physical first—"
"Beryl!" Phineas cut me off sharply.
My head snapped up.
It was the first time he'd ever been angry with me, and it was over a girl he'd known for all of three months.
Phineas knotted his brows and tucked Mona behind him:
"Mona's timid to begin with. Can't you stop cornering her with talk like that?"
She'd signed up herself, become a volunteer donor herself, and all I'd done was ask one question.
This was a pre-op step that had to do with my life.
In Phineas's eyes, though, it had become me deliberately giving her a hard time.
Mona instantly lowered her head and shrank behind Phineas, timid. Her fingers clutched the hem of her dress, her eyes rimmed red:
"I'm so sorry, Beryl. Is it me, being here, that's making you uncomfortable?"
I smiled and didn't answer her.
Phineas answered for me instead. "Of course not. Beryl's health has nothing to do with you."
Then he looked at me with something like disapproval:
"You frightened her."
Try as he might to hide it, I could still see the displeasure in his eyes.
