Leah
The parking lot was full the way hospital parking lots always were at eight in the evening.
Not chaotic.
Just full.
Rows of cars belonging to people whose crises had started earlier in the day and still had not ended.
I found a space on the third level and sat there after I turned the engine off, both hands still on the wheel, staring at the concrete wall in front of me.
The job, I told myself.
You know how to do this.
Walk in. Find out what you need to know. Deal with what is in front of you.
I had said some version of that to clients more times than I could count. Stay with the next step. Don’t look too far ahead until you have to.
It was good advice.
It was also much harder to take than to give.
I got out of the car.
The emergency department was too bright in some plac
