“Astor.”

Maya rushed into the waiting room ahead of me and I lingered, watching as she caught him in a hug. Whatever he’d been about to say faded away as he closed his eyes and sank into her hug like he barely had the strength to stand.

After a moment, he shuddered, then eased away from her.

“How is she?” Maya asked the question both of us had been thinking.

Astor kissed her cheek before glancing up to nod at me. “She’s in surgery.” Then he sighed and shook his head. “A nurse was out here. They are worried about internal bleeding. She’s got a broken leg. She wasn’t conscious when they brought her in.”

His voice stayed low and steady, but it didn’t reflect what I saw in his eyes.

Nothing steady in those eyes.

His mouth twitched a bit and he looked away from us.

“What happened?” I asked.

“We’re not sure. The police…” Astor blew out a breath. “She was coming to see you, Maya. She wanted to...she wanted to make sure you were doing okay. The guy who hit her ran a red light. He didn’t make it.”

Maya’s gasp was stifled by her hands and Astor reached out to rub at her shoulder.

“I haven’t heard anything else.” He looked over at the clock, then at the door. There was something about the way he did it that made it clear he’d spent a lot of time checking out the clock, a lot of time watching and waiting for somebody to come inside and give him the news, tell him something.

But the door stayed shut.

The clock’s hands moved interminably slow.

“She’ll be okay,” Maya said. “Come on. Let’s sit down.”

Astor nodded. “Of course, of course.”

She sat down next to him on the couch and I took the chair closest, but Maya barely even looked at me. Astor met my eyes and said, “Thanks for coming.”

“Where else would we be?”

He responded with a smile. And looked back at the clock.

“Where’s Harrison?” Maya asked, drawing his attention back to her.

“At the house.” His lips compressed into a flat line and he shook his head. “I’ll keep him updated, but things are still rather unsettled. I’m worried about him being out driving right now. Too many people still have their tempers on edge after the riots.”

“It’s probably best.” Maya took his hand.

They talked quietly.

I felt isolated, like I wasn’t even in the room with them, and after a while, I got up to pace, the walls of the room closing and caging me in. It was enough to drive me mad, but the only way to deal with it was to leave and I needed to know what was going on with Florence before I could do that.

Sick with worry, I found myself eying the clock and the doors the same way Astor had, and my gaze roamed over to discover that Maya was doing the same.

I didn't know what brought it on, but the sight of her staring at the clock as she clutched Astor’s hand ignited a rage inside me. It started slow, but as she leaned over to murmur to Astor and he offered her a sad smile, it grew. I tried to catch her eyes and she stared right through me, and that just made it worse.

Moving over to a chair, I dropped down and closed my eyes. Fisting my hands, I raised them up to either side of my head, blocking out the whole world as I fought with that anger.

I couldn’t do this again. Couldn’t get lost in the rage.

But even as I tried to convince myself of that, the anger grew, spiraling hotter and brighter. This didn’t feel like my old rages, either. It was different. It had a focus.

And when she looked at the clock, it made things worse.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Maya said, her voice pulling me out of the dark, ugly morass I’d sunken into. “I just need to visit the ladies room, get a drink. Do you need anything?”

“No.” Astor sounded tired, but even my sympathy for him wasn’t enough to distract me.

She didn’t even look at me on her way out of the waiting room.

I was on my feet a second later.

Although she had to have heard my boots echoing on the tile floor, she didn’t look back.

That was fine.

I’d just wait.

She disappeared into the restroom, and I leaned against the hall, crossing my arms over my chest as I waited.

When she emerged, she paused at the sight of me, conflict warring on her face.

“We might as well stay out here. Astor doesn’t need to see us arguing,” I said.

“What do we have to argue about?” She smoothed her hands down her skirt.

“I don’t understand why you’re sitting in there, looking half sick with worry.”

Her mouth parted, eyes widening. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Stalking over to her, I aimed a finger at her face. “All this shit you’ve told me, all these lies…you’re from the future, right? And yet, here’s Florence going through surgery, and you look as scared as we are. Why is that?”

“Because I am! I didn’t know about this!”

“Why not, future girl?” I demanded. “You threw it in my face how you knew she was going to kill herself, but you didn’t know about this?”

“That’s because this didn’t happen before!” Her face paling, she wrapped her arms around her mid-section and looked away. “I don’t know how all of this works, you stupid bastard. I don’t have control over this and I don’t…I don’t understand it. After I saved her, I changed things—she ended up living a full life in my timeline. She’d only died a year before I…went back.”

She lapsed into silence for a few seconds, her breathing unsteady.

It wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear. I wanted to hear her break under the stress, or offer some outlandish excuse—lies. I wanted something that sounded like lies. Anything to explain away the insanity of the stories she’d told me.

I didn’t want…this.

“Look…believe me or not, but I’m tired. I’m scared. And I’m not going to fight with you about this. Not here. Not now.”

* * *

The look on her face haunted me.

I’m tired. I’m scared.

Such naked honesty.

I sat out in the hallway, back to the wall and legs stretched out in front of me. Why couldn’t she have just offered more lies? Something that sounded even more ridiculous?

I wanted to find a way to convince myself that she was just making all of this up. Or a way to convince myself once and for all that she was crazy, that she needed to be locked up at the nuthouse.I couldn’t do it.

I didn't know how much time passed as I sat out there.

The door to the waiting room opened, and I went rigid, but when I glanced over and saw that it was Astor, the tension faded away.

That didn’t last long.

He came over and crouched down in front of me, his eyes resting steadily on my face.

“The two of you are either going to be the best thing that ever happened to each other or the worst. I don’t know which one it is, but if you can’t stop hurting her, you need to just leave her be, Glenn. She’s pregnant, she’s alone, and she’s scared.”

He gripped my shoulder and squeezed gently, then got up.

He walked away, turning a corner, and I slammed my head back against the wall. Once, twice, three times. It left me with a resounding headache, but did nothing to ease the misery—or the guilt.

Finally, I pushed myself up onto my feet, eying the doors to the waiting room.

I needed to go in there.

I needed to tell her I was sorry.

Whether she was lying…or crazy…did it matter?

Astor was right. She was pregnant, alone, scared. Whoever the father of the baby was, she was still handling things alone, and that made everything she was facing even harder.

I needed to fix this.

I’m tired. I’m scared.

Those words hung in my mind, heavy.

Was there any way to fix this?

Did I just leave her alone?

Blowing out a hard breath, I returned to the waiting room. She was curled up in a chair, facing away. Astor had taken off the sweater he wore, and she had it draped over her.

Even when Astor returned, she didn’t move.

Hair hiding her face, she was perfectly still and quiet.

I returned to the chair I’d used earlier, guilt filling the empty reservoir where my anger had been.

Astor gave me a cup of coffee without speaking, then went back to Maya. Before he had a chance to take his seat, the door opened.

Astor glanced back, then spun, his dark eyes widening. “Dr. Ridgefield.”

“Hello, Dr. Conde.” He glanced at me, then at Maya who was already on her feet, clutching the sweater in her arms now. “Your wife is in recovery. We found some internal bleeding, which we stabilized. She’s got several broken bones and might need some additional surgery, but I think she’ll make a full recovery.”