The Hive by Melissa Scholes Young

Author:Melissa Scholes Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Grace

Grace thought Robbie’s cell phone was in his radio room. When the ER nurse had handed her an envelope containing the pile from his pockets, she wasn’t sure what to do with the contents: wallet, loose change, office and house keys, cell phone, belt clip, and receipts for things he’d bought that they clearly couldn’t afford. Grace worried that if she opened the envelope, her guilt and secrets would spill out too. After that late hospital night, she’d left the envelope on the overflowing desk in the nook off the garage where he did his ham radio operations and shut the door tight. She hadn’t opened it since.

The family was broke. They all realized the mess Robbie had left and the lengths he’d gone to to make them believe the business was fine. Nothing was fine, and he wasn’t here to fix it or even be accountable for the hole he’d dug. She’d made a list of cost-cutting strategies, and canceling Robbie’s cell service was an obvious task, but she’d have to go into his radio room to find the phone. What if there was cash in his wallet? It felt like a raid. In prepper meetings they’d practiced how to gather resources from abandoned homes. The key was to be quick and efficient without emotions—locate, assess, take. Travis offered to help, but that made her feel worse. She resented his kindness, even as she needed him more. She deserved this punishment. The task was Grace’s to endure.

Just as she turned the knob on Robbie’s radio room, Nacho barked to alert her that the barrier to their house had been breached. Grace rewarded him with a bacon-flavored biscuit. It was only Jerry, the mailman, whom she was avoiding because he insisted on saying he was sorry about Robbie with every delivery. Everyone was sorry. But none of their condolences could pay debts. Father Tom said she could be a bit softer in her grief for the sake of her daughters, but her softness wouldn’t help them survive, that she was sure of.

She collected the mail after Jerry was gone. In the pile of grocery flyers and church bulletins, there were thick envelopes from the hospital, doctor’s office, and medical facilities. She tore them open, recycling each envelope as Kate insisted, and smoothed the mound of bills on the kitchen table. She reached for her coffee and took a deep breath. She prided herself on staying calm in crises. Grace remembered that similar mail had arrived the day before and the day before that, and she had added these to the growing pile. Then she began her danger assessment.

Robbie’s ER visit was more than $3,600 just for the hours in the hospital alone. The doctors who had tried to save his life billed separately as “independent contractors” at $900 and $1,250 each. The ambulance ride cost $2,200 because they were “out of network,” as if you were supposed to call the insurance company when your spouse collapsed and then wait on

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.