Page 56 of Clear Shot

“In the dumpster?” Her eyes widen and she looks around. “We don’t have any gurneys—can you carry him for me?”

“Sure.” Aiden and I follow her as she leads us back to a hallway that’s already overrun with people on gurneys, in wheelchairs, or simply sitting on chairs. We go around a cornerand into what looks more like a lounge than an examination room.

“Lay him down here,” she says, motioning to a small couch. “There’s literally nowhere else.”

Aiden tries to put the boy down, but he immediately screeches, arms snaking out and winding around Aiden’s neck.

“Okay, buddy, I’m right here,” Aiden says in a soothing voice, kneeling in front of the sofa. “If you lay down right here, my friend Chloe is going to take care of you, okay?”

The boy shakes his head. “I want you.”

Aiden looks up at Chloe questioningly and she shrugs. “If your presence calms him, I’m all for it.” She squats down next to them. “Can you tell me your name, sweetie?”

The boy shakes his head.

“My name is Aiden,” Aiden says. “How can we be friends if I don’t know your name?”

The boy’s face and clothes are filthy, streaked with tears and dirt and who knows what else, but when he looks at Aiden, a crooked smile breaks through. “I’m Donny,” he whispers.

“Nice to meet you, Donny.” Aiden smooths his hair out of his eyes. “Do you know where your mom or dad is?”

Donny shakes his head.

“Did they put you in the dumpster during the storm?”

Donny nods.

As they talk, Chloe is surreptitiously examining him, checking for what I assume are cuts, bruises, and broken bones.

“I think he just needs a bath and food,” Chloe murmurs.

“His parents must have put him in the dumpster because that was the safest place for him.”

“It’s one of those that are clamped down,” Aiden says. “On the side of the hospital.”

“Jesus, we put all kinds of crap in those.” Chloe scrunches her nose in distaste. “But he seems to have come throughunscathed. I’m going to send someone in to clean him up and then call a social worker. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Aiden?!” Donny’s eyes widen in alarm but Aiden just smiles.

“Right here, buddy. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”

Donny looks nervous but then nods.

“Is there something we can use to clean him up?” I ask Chloe. “I might be able to work on that, at least his face and hands, while we wait.”

“Let me show you where the supplies are.”

I follow her to a small closet that’s almost empty and she grimaces. “Here.” She hands me some packages of what look like wet wipes. “Anything you can do until I can get a social worker down here. But there are a lot of unaccounted for children and missing parents. We’re all overwhelmed.”

“I’ll see if he’ll let me clean him up and then I’ll go back to the waiting room to see what I can do.”

She smiles. “Thanks. That’s a huge help. And by the way—watching your new husband with that little boy must set the old ovaries on fire.”

I flush.

Because she’s right.

Seeing how Aiden treats a child he doesn’t even know is enough to make me yearn for things I shouldn’t even consider. But he doesn’t want kids, even though it’s obvious he would be a great dad, so I put it out of my mind.