had to repeat that twice; first for Chucky, and then for Jane. He and Sal owed them so much, especially to be there for whatever it was: Robert needing to talk, Jill needing to cry. That’s what friends are for.
“If I can be of any help, or if you’d like me to come along …” “Thanks, I’ll let you know.” He reached out and patted Nick’s
hand. “In the meantime, you need to make some headway with the hospital. Start with Doc Shelly and her boss. You’re right. We need this to be based at St. Theresa’s to pull it off. They have the name. That is, if you’re okay with this. Think you can pull it off?”
“I think we can, Dad. By the way, how long have you had this idea?”
“Since your mother died. Always thought it was a long shot, but
there’s only one way to fail.”
“Not try.” Nick nodded. “Okay, I’ll talk to Shelly. I don’t think
she’ll be much of a problem. But I’m not sure about Dr. Wall.” “We’ll both talk to Wall,” said Jerry. “And as fate would have
it, the Board meets tomorrow at St. Theresa’s. Maybe I can pop in and let Marie know we have an idea that we want to go over with her when she has a chance.”
Nick leaned back, taking it all in. Two dinners in a row had shocked him, baffled him, and moved him. Thousands of dinners had come and gone and then this week, lightning struck twice.
Sal collected some dishes and left the boys to talk.
“Wow, a billion dollars,” Nick said. “That’s a lot of money, huh, Jer?”
“Makes me want to go back to school and learn biochemistry.”