“The scar on his arm, right?”
Sawyer’s free hand was on his helmet, sitting in the booth beside him. His fingers played with it absently.
“He told you about that?”
For a split-second, I considered lying. In the same span, I decided against it.
“No. But I know it must’ve been bad.”
“It was,” agreed Sawyer. “Real bad. The kind of bad that sticks with you; for the rest of your life.”
He looked away for a moment, staring out through the diner’s big glass windows. Eventually though, his gaze returned to mine.
“Carter was a former EMT,” he began, “and a volunteer firefighter. Ever since we were kids, he always felt the need to rescue people. It’s probably why he was so determined to rescue you on Halloween.”
It made sense, what he was saying. Sawyer and Bodie had been sad to see me go, but Carter had been borderline pissed when I’d left. That anger was directed at himself, though. He saw my leaving as a failure on his part.
“One day he responded to a call,” Sawyer went on. “Car accident. Gruesome one. He’d been to a few of those before, but never like this. This one was different.”
“Why was it different?”
Sawyer looked down, into his lap. “Because this time… it was his seventeen-year-old cousin.”
I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth. I couldn’t help it.
“She was trapped in the wreckage,” Sawyer continued. “Broken and bleeding. Carter damn near sawed his arm off trying to twist the door open, gashing it on the jagged metal. But it was too late. She died in his arms.”
There were tears in my eyes now. My throat was so constricted, I could barely speak.
“That’s… that’s awful.”
“It was,” said Sawyer. “Carter had to be the one to tell the family, too. He made sure of that. It was one of the strongest and bravest things I’ve ever seen someone do.” He let out a long, shuddering breath. “But that night broke him, Hayden. He never went back to the ambulance company, or the fire house, or any of that. And believe me, he was good at what he did.”
“I bet.”
“He was on his way to being a paramedic at one point,” said Sawyer. “Working toward his certification, while looking into med school. The company was helping pay for it, but when he left, that was over too. He sat at home for a while, and that was the worst part. We couldn’t get him out of the house, other than to serve at The Refuge now and then. He didn’t want to do anything, pretty much.”
“I wouldn’t either,” I murmured.
“But then, in a stroke of good timing, his grand-uncle kicked off. Carter was fine with it; the old man led a fantastic life. He also left him the bar.”
“And the rest is history,” I realized.
“Yup,” he confirmed. “The rest is history.”
Carter’s scar leapt to mind. I imagined the frantic, chaotic circumstances during which he’d gotten it. I’d seen my share of scars, and this one was something that could be fixed, or at least minimized. He’d borne it like a badge, though. Maybe because every time he looked at it, it reminded him of his cousin… and that was something he never wanted to go away.
“History doesn’t have to behere, though,” Sawyer said, thumping the table. He raised his coffee mug my way, and I found myself toasting him back.
“The best thing about history, is that it can happen anywhere,” he winked.
~ 47 ~
HAYDEN
My stomach rumbled as I lifted my jacket from the coat rack. Breakfast with Sawyer had been great, but over six straight appointments, I’d skipped lunch. I was looking forward to dinner. To going home.
To surprising Carter.
