“Of course,” the EMT said. “Your numbers say you’re no longer in imminent danger. Your ER visit and the doctors there just need to confirm it. “
Petula nodded, sighed, and her eyes slowly closed when something else suddenly occurred to her.
Her orbs popped back open. “Julian, did anybody call my dispatcher and let them know what happened?”
He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. It’s all taken care of. Kyle was on top of it. He notified your boss, too, who is sending out a road crew and a wrecker. Buck, Spence, and Trask will be staying on scene to assist in the diving part of getting the van out of the reservoir, and they’ve also contacted the DEP.”
Petula knew, even in her weary state, that the acronym stood for the Department of Environmental Protection; a body that would take care of any gas or oil spills.
Oh, boy. What a disaster.
“Is my boss…mad?” she asked shakily. The two of them certainly managed to rub each other the wrong way. Petula couldn’t help but worry that this would be a huge negative mark on her record, and the boss would be gloating.
“I’m not sure, exactly.” Julian looked puzzled, as he should since most superiors weren’t glorified assholes. “Kyle didn’t say. Shouldn’t a normal boss be more concerned about the fate of an employee who’s undergone the trauma you have?”
Petula pursed her lips. “The operative word here, is normal.”
Julian refrained from commenting but looked sour.
Petula shrugged and yawned. “No big deal. She and I never see eye to eye.” Another thought occurred to her. “Oh. Did anyone fill Statler in?”
“Yup,” Julian confirmed. “Mason called your brother, so expect him to meet us at the hospital.”
Yeah.If Stat had heard what happened, she defied anyone to keep him away. It was possible he’d show up with the entire crew.
That thought made her feel even more tired.
“Not up for a social hour,” she mumbled, rapidly losing her battle with sleep.
“You let me take care of that,” Julian assured her. “I’ll tell Stat that his people can visit tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
Petula drifted off.
When her lashesfinally fluttered open, she immediately recognized that she was in a hospital bed.
The lights above her were dimmed, and outside, night had clearly fallen.
She turned her head to the right. Julian was there, slumped over in a chair, looking charming but slightly disheveled as he quietly snored. Sometime while she’d been asleep, he’d traded his previous nakedness for scrubs, but his hair was standing up on end as if he’d worried it into peaks, and a line had formed between his brows that bespoke of worry. She wanted to lean over and smooth it away, but couldn’t conjure the energy.
A noise to her left had her turning that way.
“He stayed awake as long as he could, but about an hour ago he finally conked out,” her brother told her quietly.
“What time is it?” she asked in a whisper.
“Just after ten,” he said.
“Oh, Stat, you didn’t have to stay.” She felt guilty taking him away from his rare, downtime to sit in a hospital and babysit her.
He snorted. “Of course I did,” he corrected. “When I got the news, it scared the crap out of me. I had to come make sure you were okay.”
Her brother was her rock, as always.
“Julian saved me,” she said. “If it wasn’t for him…”
“I know,” Statler agreed. “And I’ll be forever grateful.”
