“But you love him now,” I said, and Addy nodded.
“I do love him now. More than anything. But I guess my point is men don’t really come nowadays like Jayce. Jay is amazing. He’s perfect for me. But the day he plans an overnight trip like the one you just went on will be the day I turn over in my grave.”
I laughed, and so did Addy. “At least you know that Jay is loyal to you,” I said softly. “Sometimes I feel like I barely know Jayce. I feel like one day I met him, the next day we were kind of friends, and boom! It all happened at once, just like that. What if we rushed into this?”
“Do you feel like you rushed into this?” asked Addy, and after a moment I shook my head.
“No, actually. Not at all. But what if he does? What if he begins to regret this...the more he gets to know me, I imagine the less appealing I am. I’ve got baggage, Addy.”
“Don’t we all?” she said softly. “And besides, hasn’t he already proved to you time and time again that he’s here to stay? I’ll tell you what, sis. A man who treats his woman like Jayce treats you is not a man who is out to break hearts. Believe me, he wouldn’t waste the time.” She took a drink of her coffee with a small grimace. “Believe me, Mace, Jayce is in this, maybe even more than you are.”
“Maybe,” I said with a small shrug. “I guess time will tell.”
Addy and I had two calls before bed. One for a welfare check—one of our easiest calls—and one for a trampoline victim, a six-year-old boy with a broken arm. It certainly wasn’t a busy night, but I almost wished it was, because the snail’s pace of work was starting to put me asleep, and I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open.
“Hey, lady,” Addy said, nudging me in the shoulder as we walked towards the ambulance. “You look tired. You sleeping okay?”
“I’m sleeping fine,” I said with a shrug. “At least, I think I am.”
Addy didn’t look convinced. “Maybe you should see the doc. You look like you’re missing out on a lot of sleep. Are you under a lot of stress?”
“No more than usual. Just tutoring now in my down time. Jayce. Homework. Papers. Work.”
“Tutoring?” Addy repeated. “Where do you find the time for that, Mace?”
“I make the time.” With a yawn, I rubbed one hand over my face briskly, trying to shove away the fatigue that lingered around every corner.
“You need to take a break,” Addy said, swinging open the back doors of the ambo. “You’ll exhaust yourself.”
“Easy for you to say,” I said, stifling another yawn. “You’re already well into medical school. I haven’t even been accepted yet.”
“You will be,” Addy assured me. “And you’ll love it, I promise.”
“As much as I love this?” I teased, looking around the back of the ambo, and Addy laughed.
“Probably not. You still see me here, don’t you?”
“Yeah. You’ve taught me all I know.”
Addy smiled. Or at least, I think she did. Because suddenly a hazy fog draped over my vision, and my ears began to ring. I looked down just in time to see my hands begin to curl inward, tingling and numb. Somewhere a few feet from me Addy was speaking, but I couldn’t focus on her words. I couldn’t focus on anything at all besides the overwhelming urge I had to vomit. But I didn’t vomit. Instead, my knees went weak from under me and I fell, unable to catch myself, and hit the ground with brain-rattling force.
And then all was black.
~~
“MACEY?”
Whoever was speaking sounded far away, as though they were coming at me from another reality, or another dimension. I tried to look around to see who was speaking, but it was no use. Only blackness consumed me.
And everything freaking hurt.
“Macey?” came the voice again. It was a familiar voice, one I knew from the bottom of my heart. I tried to say something, but my throat felt raw and scratchy. So instead I focused on forcing my eyes open to look around.
I was lying on the couch in the fire department lounge. Paisley was posed near the back of the couch, her concerned expression surveying my face, and Hansen kneeled down on the floor by my head, holding one of my hands in his, and I swear he had the most frightened look on his face that I’d ever seen before in my life.
“Hey, B,” I said weakly. I struggled to sit up, but Paisley and Hansen gently pushed me back down. A good thing considering my head wanted to spin like the tilt awhirl with every new movement.
“Macey,” Paisley said gently. “You passed out. On shift. Are you okay?”
