She crossed the room, wrapping her arms around him from behind and kissing his shoulder. “Hey, you.”

He patted her hand, turning his face toward her. “Hey, honey.”

“You been standing here like this all night?”

His laugh came out as a cough. “No. Up and down, though. There’s so much beeping, so much checking in, lights on, lights off. Glad she slept through most of it.”

“She has the benefit of painkillers and a bed,” Jess said. “You must feel like hell.”

He nodded, reaching up to scratch his stubbly cheek with the ends of his blunt, thick fingers. “Just worried about her.”

Jess opened her mouth, but immediately closed it again. Halt this vigilance for a half hour? Jessica Davis knew better. She wouldn’t even consider suggesting he go home to shower and get a few hours of sleep in his own bed.

Might as well give him some fortification in the form of caffeine. “I was going to grab some coffee downstairs. Want some?”

“Yes,” he rasped, grateful. “And something to eat, please.”

Jess kissed his shoulder again. “Of course. Back in a few.”

Out in the hallway, it was impossible to ignore the stressful energy of the hospital. Nurses wheeled monitors into rooms; doctors flipped through charts, frowning. A constant white noise of unsynchronized beeping emanated from all directions.

Statistics wheeled through her thoughts—life expectancy after a hip fracture: one-year mortality rate ranged from 14 to 58 percent, with a mean of 21.2 percent. Odds of survival worsened with increasing age, of course; thankfully males were more vulnerable and mobility scores significantly influenced outcome. Nana was active and female …

Meaning at best she only had a one-in-five chance of dying this year.

Numbly, Jess ordered coffee in the cafeteria, grabbing a fruit salad and bagel for Pops. She bent, inhaling the cups, trying to trick her brain and divert it from a panic spiral. A whiff of the weak brew barely registered.

She sat in a hard cafeteria chair and took a second to check her emails—Kenneth Marshall had sent over some sample data sets, and she had a new request through her website from a wholesale jewelry dealer in Chula Vista. She would need to reschedule the meeting she’d had to postpone yesterday, and bump up a deep dive on analytic epidemiology for some data that was coming in from UCSD. There was no way she was going to get through all of it today, get Pops to rest, talk to Nana’s surgeon, and be there for school pickup. At least Juno had run enthusiastically toward Krista and Naomi at drop-off, so Jess didn’t have to worry about her.

Swallowing a bitter sip of coffee, she texted Fizzy:

My inbox is terrifying, and I think I’ll need to stay here today so Pops can get some rest.

Fizzy replied immediately, anticipating what Jess was going to ask even as she was typing out the question:

Does that mean I get

Juno today? Yesssssss!

Jess closed her eyes, tilting her face to the ceiling. Gratitude and guilt prickled hot and cold through her.

Thanks. I won’t be late.

I have nothing else going on. Rob is on a work trip, and I missed your kid.

Thank you. I’m sorry—I swear I’ll get home as early as I can.

Shut up. I mean it.

Unexpected tears erupted across the surface of her eyes, and the sting pulled her into awareness. Pops was probably starving; Nana might wake up soon. Pull it together, Jess.

Back up on the orthopedic floor, voices filtered down the hall from Nana’s room. Jess heard the low rumble of Pops, Nana’s sluggish, soft words … and then the deep, quiet voice that had left her tossing and turning all night.

She turned the corner to see River standing with his back to the door, right next to Pops at the side of Nana’s bed. Nana Jo was awake, blurry-eyed but smiling. From behind, Pops’s posture looked perkier than it had in twenty-four hours, and he held a to-go cup in his left hand.

“It’s good to see you awake,” River was saying. “I met Mr. Davis but didn’t get to meet you yesterday.”

Nana still hadn’t seen Jess in the doorway—she was mostly hidden by River’s body—but Jess caught a glimpse of her beaming up at him. Jess couldn’t blame her grandmother; Dr. Peña was undoubtedly better-looking than she had let on. “Well, you’re sweet to come by, hon. Jess has told us all about you.”

This made him laugh. “Has she? Uh-oh.”

“Well,” Nana hedged, laughing lightly, “not as much as I’d like, I admit. That girl is a steel trap.”

“That sounds about right.” This time, they laughed knowingly together, and Jess scowled from behind them. “I’m glad you seem to be feeling better today.”

Nana Jo pushed to sit up, wincing. “They’ll probably get me out of bed and walking here soon.”

Pops nodded. “That’s right. You up for it, Jellybean?”

“I’m gonna give it my best,” Nana said quietly. Uneasily.

Frozen in the doorway, Jess didn’t know what to do or say. River wasn’t throwing Nana and Pops into We Have Company mode in the slightest.

“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty fancy operation over there in La Jolla,” Pops said.

River nodded, tucking a hand into his pocket. “We’re hoping. If you two ever want to get tested, you’d be a nice addition to our Diamond Match data.”

Nana laughed, waving him off. “Oh, you’re sweet.”

“But he’s right,” Pops said, bending to kiss her forehead. “What do you think? Should we see if we’re meant for each other?”

Nana smacked his chest, laughing, and Jess felt another mysterious urge to cry.

But when she took a step backward to ease out of view, her shoe squeaked on the linoleum, and all heads turned in her direction. River pivoted fully, breaking into a smile.

“Hey, Nana,” Jess said, walking to her bedside and bending to kiss her soft cheek. “How’re you feeling, superstar?”

“Much better with two handsome men and my favorite granddaughter in my room.”

River laughed and extended a coffee from Twiggs to Jess. “I don’t think you got your flat white this morning,” he said. “Fizzy said you hadn’t been in.”

Their eyes met briefly, and Jess was the first to look away. She flushed at the memory of his mouth on hers.