He’d done so only once before, years ago. They’d been teenagers—hardly more than kids—and best friends. At least until the night of a school dance, when he’d held her face like that and looked at her with pure joy in his eyes. Right before he kissed her.
“You made it out this time, Riya. What about next time?” There was genuine fear in his voice that left Riya speechless.
When she said nothing, Dhillon pulled away from her and got out of the car. “My sister and mom are here with your dad,” he said calmly, bending down close to her ear. “My mom was on shift in the ER when Auntie came in.”
Riya inhaled deeply to settle her nerves before entering the waiting room. Funny, she’d had no such apprehension when she’d gone after Christi, but put her mother in the hospital and she was a basket case. She spotted her father, who was pacing, and went directly to him, stopping just short of throwing her arms around him. He stopped and looked at her. She took his hands. She needed to do something.
“Papa,” she said gently, as if she were talking to a child. “Papa. I’m here. What happened?”
He looked at her for a moment, his eyes sad and distant. Then his eyes went hard. “She didn’t feel well. I called 9-1-1. Mario and Leigh came.” His gaze searched her face. “You said you had a shift. But you weren’t there.”
Riya nodded. This was not the time to explain that there were many other ambulances in the county. “I’m here now. Tell me what happened.”
“She felt nauseous. We thought she had a stomach bug, but then she collapsed. I called for an ambulance, then you. Then Dhillon. Riya, where were you?” Her father leaned toward her, inhaled. “You smell like—” his eyes darted to hers, horror forming in them “—smoke. And your face...” He brushed her cheek. “Oh, beti!” His voice rose an octave. “Were you in a fire?” He ran his hands along her arms and stepped back to assess her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She had left in such a hurry, she hadn’t even washed the ash off her face.
Just then, her radio crackled and spit. Voices confirming a fire location crackled through in the silence of the waiting room. When Riya opened her eyes, she found four pairs of eyes staring her down.
Sarika Auntie was the first to speak. “That’s a firefighter’s radio, isn’t it?”
Riya remained frozen, her gaze locked into Sarika Auntie’s. Dark brown, like Dhillon’s, they were the safest eyes in the room. Had Riya been willing to tell anyone, she would have told Dhillon’s mother.
Auntie continued. “You’re fighting fires?”
Riya nodded as she kept her gaze on Dhillon’s mother, too scared to see the look on her father’s face. Had she really thought she could keep this from her family? She should have told them outright and faced the consequences then. This was worse, because now she had lied to them on top of everything else.
The look on Sarika Auntie’s face softened, and Riya took a breath and faced her father. His eyes were wild and glassy, and a vein throbbed on the side of his head.
“What does that mean,fighting fires?” he barked, the frightened concern evaporating from his face, replacing itself with a frenzied look.
“I’m a firefighter, Papa.” Her voice was soft, willing him to understand.
“You...go...into burning buildings...” He left the rest unsaid. Riya wasn’t sure if it was because he couldn’t say it or because he didn’t want to. Either way, it was hurting him. Which was why she had wanted to keep it a secret.
Riya’s heart broke. She nodded.
“But how...? Why?”
It was too much for him right now. It was too much forherright now. “Papa, we can talk later. Let’s find out how Mom is doing, okay?” She squeezed his hands, and with sad eyes, he slowly pulled them away from hers.
“Yes. Yes, of course. Sarika Ben, what do you know?”
Sarika Auntie jerked her gaze away from Riya and focused on Karan. “Not much more than before. I’m sorry.” Her voice was soothing, a balm for all the hurt in the room. It was Sarika Auntie’s superpower. She was always calm. Riya couldn’t remember the woman ever raising her voice or being agitated. Even after she lost her husband and was raising two children alone. Had to be from working in the ER all these years. Now she rested her warm gaze on Riya. “She has had a heart attack. I believe they are putting in a stent as we speak. We’ll have to wait for the surgeon. She has Dr. Waller. He’s one of the best.”
Riya nodded at her, and her father sat down. He put his chin in his hands and leaned over his knees, staring at the floor. Riya sat beside him, wanting to reassure him, but he wouldn’t look her way.
“I do not understand this. Your brother and Dhillon’s father—lost in fire.” He shook his head. “Dhillon?”
Dhillon raised his hands in helplessness and shook his head.
Anger bubbled up inside her. Would it have killed him to take her side? To tell her father she was good at what she did? She raised her chin in defiance as she had so many times before.
It was Hetal who broke the silence. “That is so cool!”
Riya snapped her gaze to the girl. What was she saying?
Hetal started shooting questions at her. “What’s it like in a fire? How long have you been keeping this secret? Have you ever saved anyone? How long was the training?”
