“You’re gonna need to call your woman while I call your mom.”
“My phone’s dead, can I borrow yours?”
He nodded, handing it to me, and I dialed Tate’s number.
“Hatch?” Tate answered on the first ring. She sounded like she’d been crying. “Did you find him?”
“It’s me, baby.”
“Oh my god.”
That was all she managed to get out before she was overtaken by sobbing.
“Hello? Hatch. It’s me, Shannon. What’s happened?”
“It’s me, Mrs. Burke, Flash. I’m good. Is Tate okay?”
“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay. Yes, she’ll be fine. Um, let me get your mom really quick while Tate pulls herself together.”
For the next twenty minutes, the phone was passed around to my mother, sister, and brother before finally being given back to Tate.
“When are you coming home?” she demanded.
“Not sure, but soon.”
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“Yeah, baby, I’m good.” I filled her in on everything that happened, which was probably a mistake because it sent her into another crying jag.
“Oh my god, Parker, you’re never doing this again. Promise me,” she sobbed out.
I sighed. “Baby—”
“Promiseme.”
“We’ll talk long and hard about it when I get home, okay?”
“Flash, you need to get that mask back on,” the EMT ordered.
“Baby, I gotta go. I’m handing the phone to Hatch.”
“I love you,” she rasped.
“Yeah,” I said, placing the mask back on, and handing the phone to my dad.
“Hey, sweetheart. Yeah, he’s good. I promise I’ll bring him home safe.” I rolled my eyes, still irked my dad was here in the first place. “Can you get Maisie for me? Thanks. Hey, Sunshine.” Dad glanced at me. “Not even a scratch. A little smoke inhalation, but he’s good, baby. Flew the fuck outta that machine and saved a guy to boot.” He chuckled. “You know it, but he’ll get the fuck over it. Tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. See you then. Bye, baby.” He hung up and faced me again. “You hungry?”
“I could eat.”
He grinned. “I’ll see if there’s any pizza left.”
“Thanks, Pop.”
He squeezed my shoulder and left the tent, giving the medic the chance to do a full workup on me.
* * *
Tate
