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first thing in the morning. I want to talk to that doctor.” Fearing that her stirred-up emotions would cause a relapse, I was anxious to leave so the medications could do their job. And so I could tell Sam about this unexpected development. “Sleep well, Hazel Marie, and don’t lie awake worrying.”
    The door swung open just as I stepped away from the bed and a nurse bustled in, or rather, she would’ve bustled if she’d had on a starched uniform instead of a nylon one, which only swished. “She’s not going to lie awake,” she said in a voice too loud for the surroundings. “Here you are, Hazel Marie, let’s see if you can keep it down so you won’t need an injection. Down the hatch now.”
    As Hazel Marie took a tablet from her, I thought to myself how it seemed that the entire medical community from the lowliest receptionist to the highest-powered specialist conspired to make patients feel like children. Frankly, I didn’t like being addressed by my first name by complete strangers, and the one time a bank teller right out of high school presumed to be a close acquaintance, I took it as my duty to teach her some respect for her elders.
    But it wouldn’t have been prudent to incur the wrath of those who were caring for Hazel Marie, so I waved and slipped out the door, my heart pounding with anxiety. Not only was Hazel Marie sick with who-knew-what, but she’d cut off Mr. Pickens and I hadn’t even known it. I needed to talk to Sam. And Lillian. Between the three of us, surely we could figure out something.

Chapter 6
     
     
     
    Sam drove us home in near silence, broken only by Lillian in the backseat trying to allay Lloyd’s worries. I didn’t think she was succeeding since she kept crooning, “She be all right now. Don’t you be worryin’ yo’self sick, you pore little thing, you.”
    Sam reached over and took my hand, knowing that I was as tense as a stretched rubber band. We dropped Lillian off at her house, then proceeded on to ours. I went upstairs with Lloyd and tried to comfort him. I wasn’t much better at it than Lillian had been, since I went to the other extreme by telling him that doctors put people in the hospital these days just to run expensive tests. “Liability, Lloyd,” I said. “They have to eliminate everything under the sun so they won’t get sued if they miss something. Your mother just has a touch of the flu or it could be food poisoning. But don’t tell Lillian I said that.”
    With a weak smile, he began to get ready for bed. I didn’t say a word about doing any reading, since his summer list was as long as my arm and he’d probably already done more than any of his class-mates. And I most certainly didn’t mention the state of affairs between his mother and Mr. Pickens. The child had enough on his plate without adding another concern. That was all I could think of, though, and I couldn’t wait to unload this new worry onto Sam.
    When I got back downstairs, I practically flew to Sam on the sofa in the living room. “Oh, Sam, the worst thing in the world has happened. Almost the worst, I mean.”
    “Now, Julia,” he said, putting his arm around me. “She didn’t look that bad to me. A little washed out, maybe, and tired, but not sick sick. And she’s not in pain, and the doctor hasn’t found anything obvious—he wouldn’t be running screening tests if he had.”
    “I know all that, Sam, and of course I’m worried about Hazel Marie’s health, especially that fever. But this is something else.” I patted my chest, realizing that Hazel Marie’s sudden about-face where Mr. Pickens was concerned had truly shaken me.
    He put his hand on my throat, then ran it around the back of my neck. I shivered just the slightest little bit. “What else is bothering you?” he asked in that soothing way he had.
    “She told me right before I left that she broke her engagement to Mr. Pickens.”
    Sam reared back to stare at me. “I didn’t know they were