set alarms on my phone for her medicine.
Christopher thanked me in the casual way people thank someone for picking up milk.
He always promised he would visit her the following week.
There was always a flight, a deadline, a client dinner, or a call he could not move.
Gertrude defended him longer than I did.
“He works hard,” she would say.
“He has people depending on him.”
“He’ll slow down when this deal is over.”
The deal was never over.
There was only another deal waiting behind it.
In
