A few hours had passed on the metal bench. Caliber's tears had dried long ago. He sat with his eyes closed, his head resting against the wall, while Skyler sat beside him playing something mindless on his phone.
Then, from the corner of his eye, Skyler saw the red light above the operating room door flicker and go dark.
He reached over and shook Caliber's arm gently. Caliber, who had been hovering somewhere between exhaustion and a hollow, dreamless sleep, opened his eyes just as the doors swung open. The head surgeon emerged, still in scrubs, her mask pulled down around her neck. Two nurses followed behind her.
Caliber was on his feet before he knew he had stood up. His legs felt unsteady. His hands were trembling again.
The doctor stopped in front of him. She had the calm, tired expression of someone who had delivered this kind of news many times before.
