Read Chapter 26: — PETER AND RACHEL

By March, Peter and Rachel had begun sharing a ritual.

At the end of each shift, if both were free, they met outside the hospital cafeteria, sat at opposite ends of a long table, and ate from separate containers.

It was more time together than they had spent in years.

They spoke about George.

Then about their marriage.

Then about the child they never had.

For years both families had treated that absence as the missing centre of their life. They had tried fertility treatment until Rachel could not bear another procedure. Afterward, neither knew how to grieve a person who had never existed.

The silence spread into everything else.

“I used to think a child would give us something to talk about,” Peter said.

“That is a terrible reason to have a child.”

“I know.”

Rachel smiled sadly.

“We didn’t fail because we had no children.”

“No.”

“We failed because we thought trust could replace attention.”

Peter looked at her.

“That sounds like something a therapist would charge us two hundred dollars to say.”

“We should invoice ourselves.”

After the outbreak, Rachel requested a permanent transfer into civilian-military emergency preparedness based in Lakeshore.

Peter reduced administrative duties and returned to more direct clinical work.

They did not become newlyweds.

They became deliberate.

At their age, that felt more valuable.