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Liaood to hear your voice How are you feeling?"

"Better now"

"I’m so sorry we couldn’t stay Senator Cruz asked us to come back to the hotel--there’s been--it’s no excuse, but it’s been busy Both Chubs and Vi said that you’d be ht" I settled back down onabout a press conference?"

"Yeah, for the plan The big plan It’s been a parade of faces coet this We have a representative in the deliberations"

"Who?" I asked If it wasn’t Lia Chubsie le thing he thought Senator Cruz should be doing the other night at dinner? It was a"No Really?"

"Really She told hi," Liam continued "He was either elated or irritated by the honor Sometimes it’s hard to tell with hi in the silence that followed "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Yeah, darlin’, everyone’s fine," he said, but there was an obvious strain in his voice "Mo that word, too: fine I’ to co in theto you"

"Maybe I’ll just have to e of his voice

I listened as he toldto be picked up by their parents They’d been given free rooms at the hotel, free meals too, and a veritable army of volunteers had co Vida and Chubs getting handsy with each other in the elevator Zu’s sed to leave the country, and, until they could be contacted, she had a choice: go home and stay with her aunt, uncle, and Hina, or live with Vida, Nico, and Cate near DC, so the latter could consult with Senator Cruz How it hadn’t even taken her a second to settle on DC

I told him about my parents The way the soldiers posted outside of my door peeked in every time it opened The way the doctor’s hand shook, just a little, as he exain to drift off to sleep

"Hang up, go to sleep," Lia up"

And in the end, neither of us did

The next , clear on the other side of town, I sat sandwiched between my parents on a couch in the lobby of a Marriott hotel in Charleston, West Virginia It was a testale member of the press, seemed to notice an to e conference roo--water, a snack, a book, some Tylenol--until finally, Dad reached over and placed a cal h, as if he needed to keep checking I was still there This was hoar to each other: slowly, clumsily, earnestly