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“Pulse. I think. Faint.” I met Heidi’s troubled gaze as I checked the diver’s vitals again. An EMT crew was waiting on the shore, but they seemed miles away, the drumbeat of too far, too late pounding in my ears.
Come on, come on.
“Switch.” We counted out another round of CPR, and the diver stayed still, skin pasty.
“Live, damn it.” I made a frustrated noise, raising my voice for the first time all dive, the noise startling Heidi and the boat captain.
“Cal…”
“Keep going.” I was not the one who needed sympathy here. I wasn’t the one…
I wasn’t the one who died. Tears started streaming down my face as I continued chest compressions, big heaving sobs.
Cough. Cough.
Heidi pulled back with a start as the diver coughed.
“Yes!” I couldn’t remember a sound as welcome as those weak hacks.
“We’ve got respiration,” Heidi reported into the comms shortly before we reached the shore. As soon as we were at the dock, the EMT crew took over, a familiar face hovering nearby.
“Doc Washington?” Remaining a bit dazed, I greeted the same ER doctor who had stitched my neck wound.
“It’s my day off, but I heard the reports, came to lend a hand in case the EMTs couldn’t make it here in time.” She gave a curt nod. Small towns. Maybe gossip traveling like wildfire wasn’t always such a terrible thing. And neither was caring about each other and strangers as well. “And at least it’s not you I’ll be stitching up this time, Phillips. Good work out there.”
“Couldn’t have done it without my dive buddy.” I shot Heidi a look I hoped conveyed a fraction of my gratitude.
“Cal.” And then Holden was there, waiting, always waiting, at the top of the boat ramp, near my RV. His face was pale. “Thought for a moment that was you being hauled out.”
“Me? I’m tougher than that.” I crouched to put a hand on his shoulder and look him in the eye. “And I promised? Remember? I promised I’d come back to you.”
“You did.” Holden’s lower lip wobbled, and I hugged him close. Or he hugged me close. One or the other, didn’t much matter which. We were holding each other, and I was crying again.
“I didn’t die,” I murmured.
“You didn’t.” He tipped my head up with his thumb. “You lived.”
“I did.” I exhaled the weight of five damn years of guilt and grief and loss. “I lived.”
“And that diver’s going to live too, thanks to you and Heidi.”
“Yeah.” Utterly exhausted, I rested my head against him, welcomed the weight of his hand on the back of my neck, and didn’t give a crap who saw or what they thought. “Take me home?”
“You have to ask?” Holden’s voice was as tender as I’d heard it. “Of course. Come home, Cal.”
Chapter Thirty
Holden
Cal’s RV looked strange in my driveway, but the familiar sounds of him in my house were comforting, a stark contrast to the quiet earlier in the day. As I assembled a purely comfort-food dinner, I kept grinning at the little reminders Cal was here, like his shoes in the mud room, the beat of the water running in the shower, the hum of his electric razor after.
“You cooked?” Cal wandered into the kitchen in nothing but jeans, bare chest, bare feet, and my chest expanded three sizes, simply staring at how cozy he looked. Like he truly belonged here. He helped himself to one of the baby carrots on a plate I’d been nibbling from while cooking. “After a day like today?”
“Especially after a day like today.” I grinned at him. The last forty-eight hours had been like flying through turbulent skies, and now that things had smoothed out, relief kept making me giddy. “It’s practically therapy. Also, it’s another ridiculously easy weeknight teacher special of my mom’s. Taco casserole. You’re not allowed to laugh at the tater tots on top.”
I opened the oven to reveal the nearly-done casserole, and Cal’s mouth twitched. “I wouldn’t dream of laughing.”
“I’ve been thinking…” I tried to play it casual, but my question was anything but. “Would you like to meet her?”
“The legendary Mrs. Justice? The one who strikes fear in high schoolers looking to pass physics? Your mom?” Cal looked somewhere between ill and intrigued, complexion going paler while his sharp gaze revealed interest.
“Can’t believe it, but Greg and Kathleen’s baby is likely arriving next week or so. Kathleen has rocked bed rest like a champ, and Mom’s pushing for me to drive up when Marley flies in to meet our nephew.” I kept my voice as upbeat as possible. Cal didn’t seem like a baby person and had been wary the few times we’d run into a young family when out together, but perhaps if I made the road trip sound fun enough, he’d overlook the reason. “Mom will stick around a couple of weeks to help them get settled, so it would be a chance for you to meet everyone before summer truly gets underway.”
