“You were reckless last night.”
Her head snaps up. “What?”
“Runningtowarda burning building like that? It’s kind of the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do as an untrained civilian.”
“I know.”
“You could have been badly hurt.”
“Iknow.”
“What if there was another explosion? What if there was more broken glass? What if the smoke was—”
“I know!” She throws her arms up in exasperation. “I know, Noah, okay? I understand! But when I saw you carrying Hale out of there, and then the way you two fell like dead weight on the ground… I wasn’t even thinking. I just knew that I had to get to you. Both of you.”
I sigh, then sit down beside her. I take her hand, noticing shallow scrapes on her bare knees, but decide to hold my tongue on the further chastising.
“I get it,” I tell her, meeting her gaze with earnest intent. “If the roles were reversed, I would do the same thing. Because I love you.”
Her lower lip trembles slightly. “Don’t be silly. No, you don’t.”
“Of course I do. You’re very easy to love.”
“Noah…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’ve got many suitors competing for your affections.”
“It’s not a competition. I mean, I don’t want it to be.”
I chuckle. “Then choose all of us.”
Lila stares at me for a long moment, then bursts out laughing. “You and your big heart, Noah Trent.”
“I’m full of shit, aren’t I? Always am.”
She sighs and reaches out to brush a lock of hair off my forehead. “You’re full of wonderful, grand ideas about how life should be. If everyone was like you, I think the world would be a better place.”
“If everyone was more like me, there’d certainly be fewer kittens stuck in trees.”
Lila laughs again, but it’s a tired sound. She looks down at the floor, her lips settling into another frown. “The vote is in four hours. There has to be something I can do. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. The GoFundMe was doing well and Save A Hero was gaining traction and… it’s just not fair.”
“No, it’s not.”
“I failed.” Her voice shakes. “It’s my fault. I didn’t do a good enough job. I didn’t strategize properly. I didn’t—”
“Hey, none of that.” I cradle her head in my hands and gently turn her face back toward mine. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to Station 47, Lila Hart. You’ve energized everyone here. The staff is inspired and happy and more connected with each other than ever before because of your efforts to show the public how good you believe we are. Your sunshine has even convinced our surly captain to smile once or twice. Do you know how much of a miracle that is?”
“Now youarefull of shit,” she mumbles, eyes glistening with tears.
“We’ll figure it out, okay? We have a few hours, like you said. In the meantime, let’s just try to relax a little so we can actually think clearly.”
“Relax?”
“Exactly. Come here.”
Without waiting for her to respond, I curl an arm around her waist and scoop her up to maneuver her onto my lap sideways.
She loops her arms around my shoulders and giggles. “Don’t cradle me like a baby, you weirdo.”
