I glare. “Don’t you have people to save?”
“Yeah sure,” Talia says, already walking backward down the hall. “But watching you squirm is way more fun.”
Once she’s gone, I turn back to my phone and reply.
Still stands
The room’s yours
Lucy doesn’t respond right away, and the silence is a trapdoor under my ribs. Then my phone buzzes again.
I wasn’t sure if you were hardcore regretting the offer
If you are, just tell me
All is good
I type. Erase. Type again.
I’ve got you.
Three little words that feel bigger than I meant them to.
I pocket the phone and scrub a hand down my face, then head to Room 4. The patient in there is a single mom who sliced her hand open on a broken dish and waited six hours because she couldn’t leave her toddler with anyone. She’s pale from shock but more worried about daycare pickup than stitches.
We patch her up. Call a cab. Give her a protein bar and a bottled water because the vending machine ate her last dollar.
She thanks me three times. Each one makes me feel a little worse.
Back at the desk, Talia reappears with a sandwich in hand. “Eat. You’re losing color. Except for the purplestreaks you keep under your eyes. Those are practically glowing.”
I lift my hands to tell her I’m fine and she physically places the sandwich in one of them, wrapping my fingers around it and moving it towards my mouth.
“If you insist,” I grumble, then pause to say “Thank you” around a mouthful because I’m not a monster.
“So,” she says after a moment. “You gonna tell me why this girl’s making you stare off into space like a kid at prom?”
“She’s not.”
“She is.”
For the first time since Jadelyn left, I have something in my life to look forward to. Lucy’s a break in routine. She’s color and motion, lighting up the darkest corners of my life without even trying and giving me something to think about that isn’t work related...
Oh, dear God…
Does that mean Bennett was right when he implied I’d fallen into a rut that day at the Lantern? He must never know.
I refocus on Talia. “She’s unexpected.”
“She’s sunshine,” she says knowingly. “You’re Eeyore with a stethoscope. It’s bound to be confusing.”
“It’s not about that.”
Talia waits, brow raised expectantly.
“She’s got this fire,” I say eventually. “Like she wants the world to think she’s fine, even when she’s not.”
“Soundsfamiliar.”
