Glenn frowned, and Max went back to fiddling with Jed’s lifeless hand. His own hands trembled as he tried to memorize every vein and nuance. Dr. Greene had said that unless Jed made a significant improvement in the next few hours, it was likely he’d die in the night. There’d been talk of letting him go peacefully, but no one could live with that. Jed was a fighter, and he didn’t want to die. Max didn’t know much, but heknewthat.
Or did he? How could he know what Jed wanted? In their short time together, they’d hidden so much from each other. Did Max really know Jed at all?
Max closed his eyes and thought of his life before Jed. Thought of the haunting prospect of life without him, and swallowed a sob. He couldn’t bear it… he couldn’t bearthis.
Glenn grasped his elbow. “Let’s get some air.”
He led Max through the hospital and out into the gray drizzle. Across the parking lot, Luke sat on a bench beneath a large tree, a lean, short-coated German shepherd at his feet.
Saja.
Max swallowed the lump in his throat. His heart ached for Flo, locked up at the Valescos. The two days that had passed were the longest he’d ever been without her. He dropped down beside Saja and let her sniff him. She stared solemnly at him in much the same way Flo had at Jed all those months ago, and then she put her paws on his knees for a closer inspection.
Glenn lit a cigarette. Luke glanced up at him and said something in a language Max didn’t understand. Glenn didn’t answer with words. Instead he closed his eyes. After hours and hours of watching everyone else fall apart, it seemed he’d finally lost his composure.
Luke let him be. He leaned forward and scratched Saja’s ears. “Any change?”
The cadence of his speech was slow and deliberate, something Max hadn’t noticed before. “No, he’s the same.”
Luke frowned and glanced at Glenn’s back. “Sorry, what?”
Glenn flicked his spent cigarette away and lit another. “You need to speak up,” he explained. “Luke’s deaf in one ear and impaired in the other. He’s not as quick as he used to be, but he’ll understand you well enough if you speak clearly.”
Luke stared at Max expectantly. Max dug deep and steeled himself to repeat Jed’s bleak prognosis aloud. “He’s unconscious. They don’t think he’s going to wake up.”
“Wake up?” Luke looked to Glenn for confirmation. “All this is from an infection? What kind of infection?”
Glenn shook his head. “Don’t worry about that now. I’ll explain it to you later.”
Luke appeared satisfied. He sat back on the bench as Dan and Hector joined them and stood close to Max, flanking him.
“Sorry,” Luke said to Max. “The bombing messed up my ears.”
He said it like Max knew what he was talking about. Max didn’t have a clue, and he couldn’t find the words to ask.
Dan could. “What bombing?”
“Jed didn’t tell you?” Luke exchanged a meaningful glance with Glenn, who averted his gaze again. “He didn’t tell you what happened to us?”
Dan pulled out a cigarette of his own and leaned against the tree. “He didn’t tell us shit. He just came home in bits.”
The words were harsh, but Max was sure they were nothing short of the truth. Trouble was, they didn’t mean anything to him. He hadn’t known Jed before, so he didn’t understand what the others had lost.
Glenn sighed. Saja flicked her ears in response. Max watched her, trying to figure out who she belonged to. She was standing guard over Luke, that much was clear, but her eyes followed Glenn’s every movement.
“When did the Casualties Notification Officer contact his brother?”
Dan frowned. “I’m not sure. Max, do you remember?”
Max thought back. “Soldiers came to the house. I don’t remember what they called themselves.”
“When did they come?” Glenn pressed. “Do you remember the date?”
“The nineteenth… I think it was the nineteenth of August.”
Luke leaned forward, like he hadn’t quite heard. “The nineteenth?” He shook his head. “When did they tell you it happened?”
“They weren’t specific.” Max frowned. Or had they been? Though he’d understood the gravity of Jed’s injuries at the time, the details hadn’t mattered. Nick’s distress had been hard to witness, but it hadn’t meant much to him.