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?"

brand-new phone from

water-damaged beyond repair. 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.

her

out, unanswered,

the hospital logo on the blanket-Capital City Hospital-Timothy swung his legs off the bed and strode for

you going? The

long, determined strides down the hall. Sheila

came all the way to Capital

closed off because of severe flooding. Timothy had

unconscious in his hospital bed. The doctor explained that the rescue team 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 hadn't found him when they did,

and clean, had marched

Jessica really that important to

thoughts, Timothy had already disappeared into the elevator, not even noticing

as it hit the first floor and

Jessica's room number. As soon as he had it, he sped off toward the elevators again, moving so fast Sheila