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I took a few sips of the coffee as I made my way to the elevator The bitter liquid helped clear hts and I threw out the coffee before I entered the ICS ward The unit was home to nearly a dozen i to see the children of all ages and their fas Matty and I were I hadn’t had a chance to talk to any of the other parents yet, but Matty had already irl naer than hih her course of treat with her in the toy roootten to seethe kid he was meant to be In those few minutes, he hadn’t been sick and I hadn’t had to deal with the prospect of losing him

“Daddy!”

I sotten the door to his room completely open

“Hey, buddy,” I said as I hurried to the bed and carefully wrapped ave Seth a smile over Matty’s shoulder

“Seth and I are playing Tic Tac Toe,” Matty said excitedly as he pointed to a piece of paper with dozens of Tic Tac Toe squares on them

“He’s beating rumpily

Matty chuckled “You can win next time,” he promised

“Deal,” Seth said with a laugh “Hey, didn’t you want to show your dad so?” Seth asked

“Oh yeah,” Matty said and then he was searching the bed for sonize “Look what Hawke brought me!”

My heart lurched at the o through me that I’d missed his visit “Wow, cool,” I said

“It’s Hawkeye,” Matty explained

“That was so nice of him,” I said “Did you say thank you?”

Matty nodded, but then his face fell “He said he had to go away for a while”

“Hawke said that?”

“Uh-huh He said he ht not be able to come back”

I glanced up at Seth who gave ht nod “He left this for you,” Seth said as he reached for a folded over piece of paper sitting on a small table next to Matty’s bed

My fingers shook as I saw my name scrawled across the front of the note Inside were just a feords, but they shook me to my core

Take care of your son, Tate --H

My knees felt weak and I had to search out a chair I shook my head in disbelief and I looked up at Seth “Did you read this?”

Seth shook his head and I handed him the note He read it and then folded it closed

“When did he leave that?” I asked