“Doesn’t matter,” he replied.
“And you ruined your fancy shoes—”
“Sh, sh, it’s okay. Don’t worry about them.”
He found himself stroking her face again, near her temples, and she leaned into his touch. His heart raced, still ridden with adrenaline but also something else. Something warm and pleasing.
A young woman wearing a DePietro badge appeared by his side and handed him a blood pressure cuff.
“Thanks,” he said. “Appreciate your help.” Raffi was lessafraid now and feeling less irritated and more charitable toward the crowd.
He wrapped the cuff around Ani’s pretty arm—or tev, in Armenian, which also meant “wing” and felt appropriate here. He pumped and took her reading. She sighed in his lap, a content sigh.
“Normal enough,” he reported. “Surprising after that scare.”
“I don’t feel scared anymore,” she said, looking up at him. She was breathtaking from this angle. “You were so far away. How did you make it in time?”
“I ran.”
“Oh.” Ani smiled to herself.
Oh. Because of him? Maybe. He invited hope into his heart, liked the way it nestled in there.
“Let’s see if you can stand and get you out of here.”
Raffi propped her up while getting into a kneeling position himself. He held her hand while the other was wrapped around her waist. Together, they rose.
He was quite a bit taller than her, and he loved the way she tucked into his chest.
“How does it feel?”
“Great, actually.”
“Not like you almost drowned?”
She shook her head. “Not at all.”
Then a shiver passed through Ani, and as he held her, he felt the tremble of her body, top to toe.
“We need to get you warm.”
A lot of good he was doing her now, soaking as he was. The air, which had previously felt pleasant, now hit as cold.
Luckily, as they walked toward the entrance, that sameemployee from before rushed toward them, holding out a DePietro-branded blanket.
“Not quite a towel, but this should work. It’s on the house. We are so sorry.”
Raffi narrowed his eyes. That was the least they could do, but she seemed to be a young employee, possibly new, most likely not management. He would be coming back and demanding blood. But not from her, and not today.
Raffi grabbed the blanket and draped it over Ani. He reached over to grab her red heels, then carefully fitted each on her feet. She pinched the blanket tightly at her chest.
“What about one for him?” Ani asked.
The employee shifted nervously from foot to foot. “We don’t have another. I’m so sorry.”
“Ani, I’m fine. Can you walk?”
In truth, he was touched that at this moment, after what happened to her, Ani was thinking about his well-being. She’d nearly drowned, had been trapped underwater, had faced the kind of panic that could break a person apart. And yet here she was, worrying about whether he was warm.
