“But I gave her the book,” I said.
“What book?”
“How ’bout we get you warmed up,” Mercy suggested,taking her arm, “and you can tell me about it while we take a little ride to the clinic.”
“But I’mfine,” Hailey repeated. “I want to go home. Liv and I need to edit our video.”
“Alert and responsive,” Mercy said.
Bruno hitched his thumbs in his belt. “Still got to get you checked out. You, too, young lady,” he said to me.
“Not necessary, thanks.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed. “You’re wet. And you’re shivering.”
“Because I went for a swim with my clothes on.”
“Next time, try using a branch to reach her,” Bruno advised. “Or throw something into the water.”
I didn’t point out that Hailey had drifted too far out for either of those options. Because honestly I hadn’t thought. I’d simply reacted. Again.
“Sure you won’t step into my office?” Mercy asked. “We have blankets.”
I was cold, the rush of adrenaline that had propelled me into the water fading. I was afraid if I sat down, I’d collapse. “I’m good, thanks.”
She wrapped her fingers around my wrist. Feeling for a pulse? “Any pain? Trouble breathing? Loss of sensation?”
My toes were numb. “Nope.”
“Okay. If anything develops, you give the clinic a call.” She led Hailey toward the back of the ambulance.
“Can I come with you?” Liv asked.
“As long as you don’t touch anything.”
“You want me to call anybody for you?” Bruno asked Joe as Mercy disappeared with the girls. “Your mom?”
A flicker passed across Joe’s face. In that moment, I couldsee the kind of calculation he must have made a hundred thousand times growing up, and my heart felt achy. “She’s working,” he said. “I’ve got this.”
“Your sister needs somebody to stay with her a while.”
Another of those minute hesitations. Joe glanced at me.
“You go. Honestly, I’m fine,” I said. “I’ve got my bike. The ride will warm me up.”
I pushed off, doing my best not to wobble, resisting the urge to look back.
—
The ride didnot, in fact, warm me up.
By the time I pumped gracelessly up the last long hill to the Village, I was shaking with cold and fatigue. I dropped my bike in the yard and stumbled to the bathroom, peeling my wet jeans from my chafed legs, stripping off my shirt. My toes were white and cramped, my skin pebbled with gooseflesh. I turned the water as hot as it could go and stood under the shower a long, long time. I was pulling on socks when the doorbell rang.
I padded to the door. “Joe! How’s Hailey?”
“Fine. Mom’s with her.” His warm, dark gaze swept over me. “How are you?”
I flushed. “I just got out of the shower.” I was dressed in my softest, most comfortable old clothes, my hair wrapped in a towel.
