In the space between clicking on confirm and receiving confirmation, Janice’s phone rang. A prickly irritation washed over her. Hadn’t she just told them she was arranging the travel? She’d already rescheduled her entire work week to move the flight up. Cedella, the hospice nurse, had sounded tense, but urgency seemed to be her default tone in every phone call.

She took a sip of coffee to smother her irritation, and put it down just as she answered the phone: “Hi, Cedella.”

“Janice?” It was Cedella’s voice, and an inchoate yearning suddenly swelled up within Janice: to hear urgency in that voice again, just one more time.