chapter 16:
"hello angel, are you okay?" rose answers the phone after its third answer.
"ro, can you come to the hospital? it's a bit important, love."
rose gets panicky.
"what's wrong?" adam doesn't how to say what he is about to say.
"just come, love. we'll talk when you come, okay?" rose ends the call without saying anything.
she doesn't give jack an answer when he asks her where she's going.
she leaves her house and walks (almost runs) to the hospital.
she doesn't even bother the water droplets on her face.
she wipes her wet face with her wet hands and enters to find finn talking on the phone.
she walks up to him and stutters, "is-is every-thing ok-okay?" finn ends the call and says, "just come with me."
rose dislikes how finn is holding her hand and walking her through the place, that she thinks she tolerates enough.
until tonight.
it reminds her of how her aunt used to hold her hand and take her to her room when her parents fought.
she can't help but remove her hand from finn's.
"is-is it about ada-" finn cuts her off and says, "he's waiting for us in his room. come."
"rose" says adam.
she enters his room and smells hand-sanitizer.
adam watches her inspecting his room. she's never done this before.
he holds her hand to make her sit and she can't help but leave it in adam's.
"what happened? what's wrong?" rose asks.
finn is standing near where adam is sitting.
and rose doesn't like that adam is sitting in his seat and not in the seat near hers.
"a patient was brought here whose surname matches, is similar to you-yours."
rose's heart drops. she doesn't have any family living here.
"wh-what what do you mean?" adam takes a breath and looks at finn.
"adam, you're scaring m-me."
adam speaks again, "rose, the patient's name is steve charwin. do you know someone named steve?"
rose snaps her eyes closed and leaves them for almost 27 seconds before the boys watch her nod slowly and swallows harshly.
"is-is he here?" finn watches rose clench and unclench her fists before adam says, "ro, your father is here. he has cancer."
in this moment, rose's mind is blank.
she begins thinking, why is she here, how did she get the call, was it raining when she came, and is it the cancer she knows or not.
"what-what do you mean he has cancer? the cancer I know?" she asks, unintelligently.
"adam, my dad never gets sick. he has never even taken a pill and now you-you're telling me that he has-has cancer? no way. no way, adam." she laughs at the end of her statement.
adam gets up and crouches on the floor, in front of her.
he slowly and so gently, she almost doesn't feel it until she feels his fingers interlocking with hers, takes her hand and whispers to finn, "can you leave us alone for a minute?" but rose hears it.
