Page 87 of Never Forget
"Miss Donovan." The boy nodded at Jamie. Then at me. "Mr. Reeves."
"Jamie's fine."
"Sam," I said.
Cole's mouth twitched, not quite a smile. He had a book at his side, one finger tucked inside to mark his place. The cover was worn at the corners. I couldn't read the title from where I stood, but it didn't look like something a teacher had handed him.
"Cole, honey, can you put the kettle on?"
He disappeared into the kitchen without a word.
Jenna led us to the small table by the window. "How's the apartment working out?"
"It's been a lifesaver." Jamie sat down. I took the chair beside her. "Close to Rosie's preschool, which helps. How about you two? Are you settled?"
"As settled as we're going to get. Quinn likes the playground. That's what matters." Jenna sat across from us. "It's a landing place. It'll do."
Cole came back with three mugs balanced on a tray. He set them down in front of each of us, careful not to spill, then stay back out in the living room. I watched him fold himself into the corner of the couch. He opened the book.
I had the sense he wasn't reading.
Something in me caught on him. I didn't know why at first.
Then I did.
I knew that stillness. I'd worn it at his age. Sitting at other people's kitchen tables, listening to other people's conversations, being careful not to take up any more room than I'd been given. Hoping someone would keep letting me stay.
I pulled my eyes back to the table.
Jenna wrapped her hands around her mug. Looked at Jamie. "So. You mentioned on the phone you've been working on something."
Jamie nodded. "A reform proposal. For the fire department."
"Tell me about it."
Jamie walked her through it. The staffing. The protocols. The way crews from different stations couldn't coordinate because their radios didn't talk to each other. The dispatchers who could hear a call going wrong and couldn't send help unless the captain asked for it. The signatures they'd been collecting. The voices still missing.
Jenna listened without interrupting. When Jamie finished, she didn't answer right away.
She set her mug down. Ran a finger along the rim. Then she looked up.
"I've been an ER nurse for eleven years." Her voice was steady. "You know how many patients I've watched die who shouldn't have? People who were alive when the call went out. Alive when the neighbors dialed 911. Gone by the time they got to us."
Jamie didn't answer.
"Sometimes it's a heart attack and the ambulance is twenty minutes out because the nearest station is running short. Sometimes it's a car accident and the closest engine is on another call and the next closest can't come because nobody asked them to. Sometimes it's a house fire and the crew that gets there can't call for backup because their radios won't punch through the walls." Jenna shook her head. "I've sat with a lot of families in waiting rooms. I've heard a lot of people ask me why nobody came faster."
She looked at her hands.
"I can't fix any of that from where I stand. I patch them up when they come in. I write the charts. I go home. I come back the next day and I do it again. I've been watching it happen for a long time. I didn't have anywhere to put it."
She met Jamie's eyes.
"I'll sign. Whatever you need from me, you've got it."
Jamie exhaled. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me, Jamie. This is the right thing to do." She was quiet for a moment. "And I owe your brother more than a signature."
