His mom put her arm around the girl’s shoulders and pulled her closer. “You don’t know who this is?” she asked gently, as the teen’s eyes filled with tears.
Reid squinted at her. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s Anna,” she said. “Your sister.”
“No,” Reid said, shaking his head. “Anna’s only seven.”
It’s probably just the sedation, I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to attract any more notice than I already had.
“Seven?” His mom looked taken aback, but recovered quickly. “Go get the doctor or nurse,” she said in a low voice to her husband, who nodded, but when he turned around, he realized there was still a stranger in their midst—me.
“Ollie, was it?” he asked, eyeing me up and down as if what I wore would give me away. At least I wasn’t in my uniform.
“Yes, sir.”
“How do you know my son?”
“I…” How to answer that question without losing my job or giving up the goods that I had a big gay crush on their son?
Oh fuck it.I was no coward.
But it turned out I didn’t have to answer at all, because Reid spoke up again.
“He helped me.” Our eyes all shot to Reid, who stared at me with an expression that looked something like curiosity. And appreciation. “You told me…to fight.”
I stopped breathing then. How on earth did he remember that, but he didn’t remember his sister was now a teenager?
“Is that true?” Reid’s father asked. “Are you one of the doctors here?”
I shook my head, and my voice caught in my throat. “No, I’m just a paramedic.”
“Just a paramedic?” his mother said, walking over to me. “Just a paramedic that saved our son’s life?”
“I…” My eyes flew back to Reid, who was still watching me, and I swallowed hard. “It’s…it’s my job.”
Reid’s father surprised me then by drawing me in for a fierce hug.
“Thank you. Thank you,” he whispered, again and again, squeezing me tight before pulling away. Then he wiped his face and said, “I’d better go see about that nurse.”
As he left the room, I stood there awkwardly as Reid’s mom watched me.
“How bad was it?” she said, and I knew exactly what she was asking.
I gripped the back of my neck and looked down, not wanting to relive the accident so that she could watch it play out on my face. “Bad.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice wavering, and I looked up to see her twisting her fingers together. “Thank you for what you did for Reid and for checking on him. He might not be here if it weren’t for you.”
God, I didn’t even want to think about that. The what-might’ve-beens. Things had happened for a reason, exactly like they were supposed to. I had to believe that, though I wished he hadn’t had to go through any pain.
“I should leave you all to…catch up,” I said, and then I looked over at Reid. He would no doubt be overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him the last few days, and he’d need time to heal, to be with family, to remember. “I’m really glad to see you awake.”
“I’ll see you again, right?” he said, and the endearing way he looked up at me then made me want to give him whatever he asked.
And so I did. “You can count on it.”
four
SIX WEEKS LATER