Thursday arrived with two numbers Ann did not want.
The first came at 8:12, while she was still unlocking her desk. Clinic. A nurse with a careful voice.
“We can do the follow-up test tomorrow, Miss Cole, but it has to be prepaid. The previous balance is still open. If we wait, we wait three weeks.”
Ann turned toward the copy alcove so the glass would not get the look on her face. “How much?”
The nurse told her. Ann stared at the wall and did the math she already knew. Extra hours helped. They did not stretch that far that fast. “I’ll call back.”
She hung up and stood there until her hands remembered they were at work.
When she came out, Mikel’s door was open and his voice was already in the hall.
Not to her. “…I am not asking for a story, Soren. I am asking why a dead advisory line
