“Don’t try to speak, Doc.” Mario looked at his partner. “But yeah. I picked up Riya’s mom that night she had a heart attack. This is Sarah. You remember her?”
Dhillon nodded.
“You took in quite a bit of smoke.” Mario’s eyes flicked to monitors. “So we’re taking you to the ER. Want water?”
Dhillon nodded. He removed the mask for a moment to drink the cool water. “My sister,” he croaked.
Mario made eye contact with his partner. Something passed between them. Dhillon tried to sit up.
“No. Lie down.” Mario gently pressed Dhillon’s chest to keep him on the gurney.
“My sister!” Dhillon repeated, as loudly as he could with his throat so sore.
“She’s out of the fire and on her way to the hospital. That’s all the info I have right now,” Mario said as he concentrated on various dials and buttons.
Mario was lying, and everyone in the ambulance knew it. Dhillon knew the man wouldn’t tell him more until he had facts.
“You know, Doc, Riya pulled you out.”
Dhillon’s eyes widened, and his heart rate increased. He could see it on the monitor. “She did what?”
“She saved your life.”
thirty-two
RIYA
Hetal was injured. And it was her damn fault.
Riya had done everything right this time. She’d got backup, worked as a team, kept the big picture in front of her, followed orders.
Still, someone she loved was injured.
All because she had to make firefighting look amazing and glamorous. When really, it was hot, gritty and dangerous. Not to mention there were no guarantees for anything. She had made herself look like a hero and had empowered Hetal into thinking she could do the same.
What the fuck had she been thinking?
She attacked the fire with a vengeance. As if each flame had arrived to personally destroy her. She checked every ember to make sure it was dead. She was thorough like she’d never been before.
And would likely never be again.
Because she was done. She was no firefighter, and she’d proved it tonight. She’d enticed Hetal into being a hero, and she’d lost her cool in front of her colleagues. Screaming and crying and vomiting.Professional firefighter.Ha! What a joke.There was nothing professional about her.
Samir was never coming back. No matter how many people she saved. Riya was supposed to teach Hetal, keep her safe. But she hadn’t done that. Her words had said one thing, but her actions had said another.
“Hey, can you watch Hetal? Mom’s running late on shift, and I need to get to work.” Dhillon hadn’t even made eye contact when he’d shown up at her door. It was close to a year after the fire, after the kiss. And he still wouldn’t look at her.
“Um, yeah. My parents are out, but I can watch her.” Riya had smiled at Hetal, who was close to six years old by then. “We’ll go on an adventure.”
“Yeah. Okay. Just be careful.” Dhillon had been awkward, hesitant to leave his sister.
Riya had played games with Hetal, then taken her outside for their adventure, which ended up being tree climbing. Riya did this all the time, and she had a favorite tree she liked to climb. She took the little girl to that tree and let her try it. She didn’t let her go up too high, but Hetal had seen her do it and was excited to keep trying for higher.
Things were going well until Hetal slipped and fell. She’d only fallen from a few feet up, but her ankle was sprained. Riya had carried her back to the house, wrapped an elastic bandage around the girl’s ankle, applied ice and propped it up on a pillow. They watched movies and ate ice cream until Dhillon came to get his sister.
When Dhillon came home, he was livid. “What do you mean you took her to climb trees? She’s six!”
“We were climbing trees when we were six, Dhillon,” Riya reminded him. “And we got hurt, too. She’ll be fine.”
