Page 61 of Watching Henry

There was something in the way so that even though Hadley longed to reach out and touch her, she didn't quite dare.

Florence's walls had gone back up.

“Can I see Henry?” Hadley asked.

Florence nodded. “Through the doors, first bay on the right. He should be back from x-ray any moment.”

Relieved to be out of the waiting room, but anxious about what she was going to find, Hadley followed the instructions and walked into the bay just as Henry was being wheeled back in.

“The doctor will be with you shortly,” said the nurse.

Hadley raised an eyebrow at Henry. “Want to tell me what you were doing?”

He sniffed and looked down at his hand laying across his chest. “Nothing.”

She took a seat next to his bed. “Henry McLeod-Allan, don't you lie to me, not when you're in a hospital bed. What on earth were you doing climbing out of a window?”

“Running away,” he mumbled.

She laid a hand on his leg and stroked his knee. “Running away? Why would you be doing that?”

He looked up at her defiantly. “Because I'm not allowed to watch TV.”

She nodded. “Uh-huh. Not because you're worried about what will happen after the summer? About what will happen when Florence and I leave?”

He shrugged and she stroked his knee again.

“Henry, running away isn't a solution.”

“What is then?” His eyes were red-rimmed from crying.

“Sometimes there's no solution at all. Sometimes we have to do difficult things and just wait until the better times come. Just keep on keeping on as my dad likes to say. Other times there are solutions, but you need other people's help to get to them.”

Henry sighed. “You know, being a grown-up sounds confusing and stupid, right?”

Hadley laughed. “It is sometimes. But whether there's a solution or not, there is always something that helps. Talking. Communicating. When things get too big or bad or scary, when the world looks like a horrible place, when you think that you're all alone and no one will care or understand, then the best thing to do is to talk about it with someone.”

“Like you?”

“Maybe.” She was painfully aware of the fact that she was almost certainly not going to be around for much longer. “Or Florence, or your mom, or your teacher, or a doctor, or a friend, or anyone that just happens to be close by. It doesn't always matter who. It just matters that you say the words.”

He was quiet for a while, then he nodded. “I'll try.”

“Good boy,” she said, rubbing his knee again. “Now, I'm gonna go call your mom, and Florence is gonna come back in here to sit with you, okay?”

She slipped out of the room and pulled her phone out. Even as she pressed on Maeve's contact number she wasn't really expecting an answer. Who had a cell phone at an ashram? It was Florence that was more likely to have problems with the kids' father.

But to her surprise, Maeve picked up on the second ring.

“Hadley, darling, I'm so glad you called. Anything to get me away from lentils for the hundredth time. I have to say, this isn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Lentils and getting up at three in the morning, honestly. You'd think that I wasn't paying to be here—”

“Maeve,” Hadley interrupted. “I'm calling because there's been an accident. Everyone's fine. But you need to know that we're at the hospital right now with Henry and that he's got a broken arm.”

“Oh, thank heavens!” Maeve said sounding overjoyed. “Well, not really, of course. I don't want my angel hurting, but I do need an excuse to get out of here. Don't you worry your head about a thing, Hadley. I'll be there by this time tomorrow.”

The call was ended before Hadley could say a thing and she stared at her phone for a moment before heading back to the waiting room for Florence.

“Ms. McLeod is coming, she'll be here tomorrow.”