“Here they are,” Kit said as she walked in. She handed the bills to Evan, and Wren took the last pictures of him holding them up, his face somber.
Kit had escorted Evan upstairs and Wren was disassembling her gear when her phone alerted her to a message in voicemail. She’d silenced any incoming calls during her shoot. It was probably Barbie calling to check on her, or maybe Chase. She was so preoccupied with Evan’s and Matthew and Arthur’s stories that by the time she had everything on the dolly, she’d forgotten about the message.
Later that night, just before bed as she was putting her phone on the charger, she noticed the missed call.
Elias.
Her heart sped up and her mouth went dry as she connected to her voicemail. She listened to the message. Then she listened to it again, feeling her smile grow and her insides warm. She laughed on the third and fourth listens.
Wren changed out of her sheep shirt and into Elias’ borrowed t-shirt. And then she texted one word back:
Yes.
FOURTEEN
She said yes.
The first thing Elias had done when he woke the next morning was check his phone, hoping for a message from Wren. He’d tossed and turned all night second-guessing himself, thinking that he’d been a fool to reach out.
He opened his texts,heart pounding, half-expecting to see nothing. But there it was—a sweet and short message from Wren:Yes.
Relief washed over him as he stared at the screen, reading the single word over and over. A simpleYes. Just three letters, yet it felt like she’d thrown him a lifeline. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant—whether she wanted to talk things out, to give him one last chance, or just hand over his jeans and t-shirt then walk away for good. He wanted to believe it was more than just a polite response, but doubt crept in. Maybe she just didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
But she said yes.
Before he let his doubts take over, he texted back.
I’ll call you tonight after my shift.
He watched three dots bounce while she answered.
Sounds good. Be safe!
Elias smiled at that. Safe or not, it would be one long shift.
As they rodeout on their first call, Elias pushed all thoughts of Wren to the back of his mind, focusing instead on prepping for a car accident. Elias secured a trauma bag on the bench next to him. His hands moved almost on their own from muscle memory.
Waylon glanced over at Elias, his brow furrowed in concern as he checked the equipment one last time. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, actually,” Elias answered, grabbing a C-collar from the compartment above.
“You look like you didn’t sleep, and I can tell you’re keyed up.”
“No, I’m good, brother.” The familiar scent of antiseptic and the slight hum of the road beneath them filled the space as he adjusted the collar, readying it for use.
“Wren again?”
Elias couldn’t help but grin. “I’m talking to her tonight.”
Waylon smiled back, giving him a quick nod. “Good luck.”
The rest of the shift kept them busy. They dealt with the usual chaos—two more car accidents, a couple of heart attacks, and a call about a kid undergoing possible anaphylactic shock that turned out to be a false alarm but had everyone’s adrenaline spiking. No paramedic ever wanted to fail a kid. All the while,Elias’ mind kept wandering back to Wren despite his best efforts. To what he would say when he spoke to her.
Elias didn’t even wait to get home to call her. As soon as they got back to the station and he’d changed into his civvies, he took out his phone and hit the call button.
The phone rang once. Twice. Then?—
“Elias?”
