The first person Tessa asked said no.
He said it before she finished explaining, with his uninjured hand already protecting the sleeve above his bandage. Tessa stopped speaking at once. He watched her for several seconds, waiting for the persuasion that usually followed a refusal.
“Your dressing still needs changing,” she said. “Do you want that now, or after breakfast?”
“Now.”
She reached for the clean tray.
Eli stood at the end of the room holding a list of questions Juno wanted answered. He had thought the difficult part would be persuading people to believe the comparison mattered. The patient’s fear was simpler and more personal: they were about to take something from him, and he did not know what power a polite refusal actually had.
Tessa changed the dressing with exactly the care she had given him yesterday.
When they left, Eli asked whether she would approach him again later.
