I just called Rachel. I think she was asleep.

No, I need something to keep you two together.

Considering how little I've met with the actors, we've really made a lot of progress.

And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

It was 8:30 a.m. and I was still asleep when the hospital at UC Davis called. They had a liver for me and I needed to be in Sacramento by 4 p.m. We just grabbed stuff and ran — I don't even remember much of the trip, except that my phone was ringing off the hook.

Craving a physical connection, I slide my finger along the back of Rachel’s hand. She’s asleep. Has been for a while. Curled in the fetal position in the middle of my bed, Rachel wears the mask of a ravaged person. Somehow, I missed the signs: dark circles under her eyes, the clothes that once fit perfectly now hang, her skin so pale it’s translucent.