“I’m so glad I found you,” I said. “Can you tell me where Ben is?”
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Arnold looked at me carefully.
Then his eyes suddenly filled with tears.
“He didn’t tell you anything, did he?”
Something tightened inside me.
“About what?”
Arnold glanced toward the nurses’ station. Two women immediately became unusually interested in their monitors.
I gripped the lunch bag tighter.
“Arnold.”
He swallowed hard.
“He’s leaving, Chelsea.”
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
“Where?”
The expression on his face changed immediately.
“No, Chelsea, no. I meant he’s leaving the hospital.”
The relief was so overwhelming that I had to lean against the counter.
Then confusion set in.
“What are you talking about?”
“He accepted another position.”
I stared at him in silence.
“Where?”
“In Oregon.”
The relief disappeared.
“What kind of job in Oregon?”
Arnold closed his eyes.
He had worked with Ben for many years and had eaten dinner at our family table so many times that I knew his silence meant trouble.
