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Julian stopped breathing for a moment, but I only watched her. It was the strangest thing, but I couldn’t figure out how I was feeling. Why couldn’t I just be left alone?

Obviously, I was fine.

Her watery smile faltered.

“Okay, Bianca—” She pulled the edge of her stethoscope out from under her white jacket. “—I’m going to check your vitals, okay?”

Whatever, it didn’t matter.

I couldn’t look away from her, and my heart raced as she touched my arm. My focus remained on her hands as she held the stethoscope to me, and my breathing turned shallow as she circled to my back, pressing the cold device against my skin.

“Good job,” she said, coming back to stand in front of me once more. “And your blood pressure…” She didn’t ask for permission this time, but pulled over a tray I hadn’t noticed before and set the cuff around my arm. Even though I was watching it blow up and knew it was doing its thing, I barely felt it.

“Your blood pressure is low right now,” Dr. Kohler said as she pulled the pen out from behind her ear and began to write on her clipboard. “But that’s to be expected. You’ll be back to normal soon.”

Normal.

Something stirred in me at the ironic statement.

What was ‘normal’? I didn’t even know what that meant.

Julian’s hand suddenly twitched. The movement was so miniscule that I might have missed it if I hadn’t been so in tune with the way he’d been rubbing circles over my back.

I glanced up at him. What was wrong?

“It’s okay, Bianca.” He was smiling, but his expression didn’t match the overwhelming sadness that soaked into me through our shared connection. “You’ll be fine.”

It was almost like he was trying to convince himself more than me.

“We’ll see.” Uncle Gregory nudged Dr. Kohler out of the way and took her place at the side of the bed. Unlike the last time this happened, she didn’t protest, but she did remain in the room, standing near the cart as she watched the scene without emotion.

He’d been holding one hand behind his back, and after shooting me a long look, he showed us what he’d been hiding.

“Take this,” he said, holding out a panda-shaped bowl of vanilla ice cream for me. I glanced at it, my stomach rumbling almost painfully, before looking back to him.

“It’s honey,” he said in response to my unspoken question. He seemed genuinely surprised. “You’ve never had it as a topping before?”

Honey?

Ilovedhoney.

Julian breathed a sigh of relief as I took the bowl and began to eat with small bites. My attention, however, did not move from the older man.

“Okay, Bianca.” Uncle Gregory grabbed my vanity chair and moved it to where he’d been standing. “I’m going to ask you some questions now.”

My movements froze, and I held the spoon near my mouth as I stared at him. I was just starting to feel alive again—why did he have to ruin it?

But this ice cream was really good, so was it really worth getting annoyed?

I slowly put the spoon in my mouth, watching him.

“I’ve already spoken to Gloria,” he said, touching his jaw as his focus wavered, but then he was back to business. “Ms. Satore and Ms. Ducharme as well, so we have a general idea of what happened.”

That’s nice—it kept me from having to answer anything.

“But I still want to hear your version of things,” he finished.

My pulse quickened as the ice-cream suddenly lost its appeal. I dropped the spoon back into the bowl and set the bowl down on the bed, suddenly unable to tear my eyes from the melting snack.