Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Back at the hotel, she switched her phone to silent mode.

Tomorrow was her advisor's exhibition.

She wanted to be well-rested for it.

At noon, Timothy's eyes snapped open, and he immediately sat up in bed.

Sheila grabbed his arm, her voice urgent. "Timothy, what are you doing? You need to rest-lie down."

Timothy turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I went to the hospital this morning and saw Secretary Allen with Henry. When I asked, he told me you'd arrived in the city late last night. Then the hospital called -they said you'd been found unconscious out on the street by the rescue team. Timothy, do you realize how dangerous that was? With all that flooding last night, if they'd gotten to you any later..."

The thought alone made Sheila shudder. Someone unconscious, lying in water for too long-it could have been fatal.

"Timothy, the weather was awful last night. All flights were grounded. What could possibly be so urgent that you had to travel here overnight?"

"Where's my phone?"

dug a brand-new

I got you a new one. The doctor had to take out your SIM card and put it in someone else's phone just to reach me. Timothy, do you have any idea how

took the phone, ignoring her concerns,

out, unanswered, and

blanket-Capital City Hospital-Timothy swung his legs off the bed and

after him. "Timothy, where are you going? The doctor said you need to

long, determined strides down the hall.

way

after midnight, the city center was closed off because of severe flooding. Timothy had waded through the floodwaters on

found him after he'd fallen into an open manhole-one of the covers had been swept away by the flood-and that's how he'd passed out. If they

had marched

really that

of her thoughts, Timothy had already

the elevator just as it hit the first floor and rushed

As soon as he had it, he sped off toward