"You're with the woman coughing blood?"
Don nodded.
The nurse—forties, blonde, brown eyes, name tag reading Kimberly—adjusted her grip on her clipboard and clicked open her pen. "Name?"
"Donald Keefer."
"Are you related to the patient in any way?"
"No. We're colleagues." But I love her. I think.
"Okay. I'm going to ask you some questions, Mr. Keefer, and I'd like you to answer them if you can. Don't sweat it if you can't. Her full name?"
"Violet Laura Waterwoods."
"Birthday?"
"October 4th, 1983."
"Emergency contact?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
"What about her parents?"
"They died in 9/11."
"Siblings?"
"Her brother committed suicide seven years ago."
Nurse Kimberly was starting to look alarmed. "Grandparents?"
"All dead."
"Any living relatives?"
"I mean, statistically, she probably has a second cousin or something," Don said, "but all her immediate family is dead."
"Okay." Kimberly made a note on her clipboard. "Does she have insurance?"
"Yes."
"Provider?"
He made a face. "Liberty Mutual? I'm not sure." Violet, live.
"No worries. Blood type?"
He bit his lip, thinking back to when Maggie had gone with her to some sort of blood drive or fund. "I don't know, but my friend does." He pulled out his phone. "Do you want me to call her?"
"Sure."
He dialed Maggie's number.
"Don," she said. "Is she okay? What's going on? Why's she coughing blood?"
"I don't know," he said. "I'm just answering questions right now—what's her blood type?"
"Uh, A negative."
"A negative," he said to Kimberly. "Maggie, stay on the line, okay?"
"Okay."
"Is she taking any prescription medications?" Kimberly asked.
"Effexor for depression and anxiety." Live for your brother.
"And birth control," Maggie put in.
"Birth control?" Don repeated.
"Yeah, for her period, I heard her talking to Mack about it."
"If she's on birth control, we need to know what kind," Kimberly said.
"What kind?" Don demanded.
"I don't know, but I think Mack wrote it down—"
"Get her on the phone, then?"
"You're on speaker—"
"I'm here," Mack said. "She's on the pill."
"The pill," Don repeated to the nurse.
"Any brand?" Kimberly asked.
"What brand?" Don asked.
"Oh, I . . ." Mack trailed off. "I can't remember, I'm sorry."
