She looks at me again. Really looks.
“Okay,” she says. “I believe you.”
That matters more than it should.
They start getting her harnessed first. She talks the whole time abuzz with nervous energy.
I stay close, watching, stepping in when she needs grounding, even if she doesn’t realize it.
“You’re not allowed to leave me mid-zip,” she says as they tighten the straps.
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good. Because I don’t think I can emotionally recover from being abandoned on a wire.”
“That would be a new low.”
“It really would be.”
They finish with her. I do a once-over to check their work. I know they’re professionals. But her safety matters.
I give a nod. She’s secure.
Now it’s my turn. I reach for the harness?—
My phone rings. Everything in me goes still.
Because I know that ringtone. It’s one I’ve specially set.
I answer. “Yeah.”
“Doug—” Panic lances my heart. “We’re at the hospital,” Anna says, her voice breaking. “I—I didn’t know who else to call?—”
My chest tightens. “What happened?”
“Bella—she won’t stop—” she chokes on the words “they took her back and I?—”
“I’ll be right there.”
I hang up. Turn.
Kathryn is watching me. Eyes wide.
“I’m sorry,” I say, already stepping back. “I have to go.”
Her face?—
Fuck me.
There it is. That flicker. That disappointment she’s trying not to show.
“Yeah,” she says, too quickly. “Of course. Emergency, right?”
“I—”
I don’t explain.
Can’t.
