Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

The sadness receded, though it didn’t leave entirely. It still bubbled
underneath the surface, but he floated on top of it now. This was a different
kind of grief, he knew, but it was still his all the same.
He accepted that.
What will you do with the time you have left?
And that’s when he knew.
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Mei snapped at him. She stood in the
kitchen, glaring at him as if Wallace were the stupidest person she’d ever
laid eyes on. Hugo manned the register out front, the shop busy.
He shrugged. “Probably? But I think it’s the right thing to do.”
She threw up her hands. “Nothing involving Desdemona Tripplethorne is
the right thing to do. She’s a terrible person, and when she finally bites the
big one, I’m going to—”
“Help her like you’ve helped everyone else if she gets assigned to you?”
Mei deflated. “Of course I will. But man, I won’t like it. And you can’t
make me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. I know you don’t care for her, Mei. And you have
very good reason not to. But you said Nancy trusts her, for whatever reason.
If it came from you or Hugo, she might not listen. At least with Desdemona,
we’d have a chance. And if what I have in mind works, she won’t be here
very long.” He shook his head. “I won’t do this, though, without your okay.”
“Why?”
She was really going to make him say it, wasn’t she? “Because you
matter.”
She startled, a slow smile blooming on her face. “I matter?”
He groaned. “Shut up.”
She looked away, though he could tell she was pleased. “Hugo’s not going
to be happy about this.”
“I know. But the point of all of this is to help as many people as you can,
right? And Nancy needs help, Mei. She’s stuck, and it’s killing her. Maybe it
won’t work, and it won’t make anything better. But what if it does? Don’t we
owe it to her to try?”