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"Please," Pa up the door "I will take you to hi If not withherself with her nah the elevator is cool I find ainst my jeans The elevator settles and we step onto the second floor Ade corner office, with a huge clean desk, only a handful of items on its expansive surface I preferevery dollar of their paycheck This desk scares me It says he has all of the tihtup and s down his suit "Please, sit down"

CHAPTER 8

I study his face, trying to place it, to see if I have ever seen hie nose and ser to o I received a call from a Ms Cecile Knox She informed me that ould not receive any more payments from your husband for Mr Tapers’s care Naturally, I told her that I would not be able to speak to her about this account" He pauses, looking up fro my eyes "She then put your husband on the phone"

The roo in front of the sun, casting this well-appointed office into so dark and dreary My husband He wouldn’t have Not with our agreement Not with his word Not with his fat and inflated offshore account But then again, I always suspected this e, stating that he was discontinuing financial responsibility for Mr Tapers Now …" He flips up the page he is looking at, peering at the next sheet "His last pay you tiements"

I s "And how much does this facility cost A s "It varies fro on the tests that are needed, the support he requires On average, you are looking at eighty to a hundred thousand per month"

I blink It is a question I should have asked earlier I knew that it was expensive, the low nue rooms, tree-lined drive But I had no idea it was that expensive

I nod slowly "Is there anything else you wanted to speak to ements?"

"I’d like a few days Please make sure that none of this is mentioned to my father"

"Certainly Shall we speak, say, Monday?" His pen hovers over his calendar book, and I have a flashback to every debt collector call I have ever had

"Yes, Monday," I say with false opti toward the door, towardwell, his i the right side of death’s line I sit and hold his hand,when he opens his eyes and smiles at me

"Go back to sleep," I whisper "I’ll be here when you wake up"

"It’s not Wednesday," he says in confusion

I smile "No I’ll be here more often now I’ll explain it later Go to sleep"

I need his sleep I need to look over and see him in serenity while I make sense of the fked up reality that is my new life I feel Pa happen?" she asked, taking the seat to ht "With you and Mr Dumont? You both looked so happy in the Bahaht, and I realize that she has been livingwith h "Yes" I can’t generate much more conversation than that, and she takes her cue and letsfor and then dreading the words that fill the screen NEW MESSAGE I callthe phone to et this before you reach the hospital Cecile … she doesn’t understand our agreement, and she doesn’t want me to continue the support of your father She hadI assure you, I will figure this out, and I will keep my promise to you I just …"

There is a heavy blow of air into the phone, and I picture hi back in his chair, his beautiful face a ht nohen she is finally back, and I can finally hold her again I’m so sorry But it’s liketo jeopardize it right now I’m sorry"

I look at e is coe for later -- for when I need my heart to be reopened and stabbed a few more times as a reality check

In a small way, I have expected this She has such a hold over hithened in her absence In her mind, he is hers -- his body, his home, his money She ant him to cut all ties, won’t approve of his support of an old fla of a word An old fuck That would be more apt

I had expected this, and in anticipation of my demise, I took, for quite possibly the first ti Researching Cecile wasn’t the only thing I did at the library that day I also took iven me, with Jennifer’s social security number and the account number written neatly on its front I knew the bank’s name; Nathan hada courtesy phone in the library’s lobby, I used a prepaid long-distance calling card and called the bank, one day before our flight, and transferred some of the funds out of Jennifer’s account

I didn’t take h much is such a relative term It wasn’t much when you looked at the balance in the account, but it was a massive infusion to my old bank account -- an account that had never carried a balance of ures