For over a week, Barry was too busy to do much except take care of a few urgent matters at the bank and hang out at the hospital while the doctors did their mumbo-jumbo. Some days, Mom seemed better, and others, not so much. The cardiologist decided she needed a bypass and some cleaning of arteries. She came through that surgery very well, and from then on, she seemed to be progressing. He went back to spending nights at home.
The big old house seemed empty and cold. More than once, he thought about calling Justin when he was unable to sleep, wandering like a ghost around the silent rooms, but he didn’t. It was hard to get past that guilt. Too many what-ifs rattled around in his soul. What if he had made his marriage work and Laurel had produced a kid or two, the grandchildren Mom wanted
