Page 96 of Tear Me Apart

“Thank you, Dr. Oliver. I appreciate you explaining things to me.”

“No, thank you, Mr. Armstrong. If you can help me save my favorite patient, I’ll owe you one.”

They shake hands, and Zack enters the waiting room.

“All set?” Juliet asks.

Zack adjusts the bandage around his elbow. “Yeah. Good thing I don’t have to do needles often. That hurt.”

“You’re a baby. Even Kat thinks so. I swear I saw her shaking her head at the faces you were making.”

He spits out a laugh. “You are a seriously mouthy woman.”

She grins, and he realizes again how young she is. “I just like to have fun. Come on. Jasper and Lauren are already in Mindy’s room, waiting for us.”

Trepidation building in his stomach, Zack takes a close hold of Kat’s lead and lets Juliet steer him down the hallway.

She knocks on the door, and three faces turn toward them. Zack seeks Mindy’s eyes first. She is staring at him, then ducks her head shyly.

Juliet nudges him, and though Lauren is pale, she nods encouragingly, so he takes a few steps into the room.

“Hey there. I’m Zack.”

Mindy looks up again, and he has a moment where he quite literally feels the world turning on its axis. He’s afraid for a moment he’ll faint again. His daughter—my daughter—says, “Melinda Wright.” Her voice is Vivian’s, and his breath hitches in his chest.

Lauren stands, takes Jasper’s arm. “We’re going to grab some breakfast, let you two talk. Juliet, would you care to join us?”

“Heck no, I want to stay here and watch the fireworks.”

“You’re coming with,” Jasper says, exasperated. “Let’s go.”

Zack barely hears them. Mindy rolls her eyes at Juliet, her lip quirked on the left side, and he feels something break inside him.My God, she looks like Vivian when she does that.

The three leave, and they are alone. Mindy doesn’t wait, jumps right in.

“Can I pet your dog?”

“Absolutely. Kat?” He gestures toward the bed. The dog pads forward, then gently puts her front legs on the bed and takes a couple of sniffs. Mindy sets her hand on the dog’s neck, waiting for Kat to make the next move. The dog pushes into her hand immediately.

“You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?”

Kat closes her eyes in ecstasy. She loves being scratched around the neck. A low rumble comes from her chest.

“Good grief, is she purring?”

“Sounds like it, doesn’t it?” Zack answers, moving closer. “She rumbles like that sometimes when she’s really happy. She was supposed to be a full-blown service dog for military PTSD or autistic kids, but she wasn’t cut out for it, so I took her home with me. She’s a goof.”

“You’re not a goof. You’re a gorgeous girl. Look at your pretty ears.”

Kat takes this as an invitation and hops up onto the bed, knocking aside the IV pole with a crash. Zack lunges for it, catches it before the whole apparatus topples.

Mindy starts to laugh and hugs the dog to her chest. “God, this is the most normal I’ve felt in a month.”

“It’s been hard on you, the treatment?”

“That, and being stuck in this stupid cast.” She gestures to the leg in question, still covered by the blanket. “It’s been a real bummer. I’m not used to being still. You look like you’re in shape. What’s your poison?”

“I run.”