Page 63 of Cinder
Penny kneels beside us without making it a big deal. “Then you remind them,” she says easily. “And if someone else is already there, you find a new good spot. Window seats aren’t the only cool seats.”
Elle’s eyes hold Penny’s for a beat as she considers that. “And what if I don’t remember where we keep our drink bottles?” she adds quickly, the worry picking up speed now that it’s out.
“You will,” I tell her.
“And if you don’t,” Penny says, reaching out to brush her thumb lightly over Elle’s knuckles, “you ask. Teachers love being asked. It makes them feel important.”
Elle smiles softly at that.
I tap the tip of her nose. “You’ve got this, bug.”
She studies my face for a second, like she’s checking I mean it.
“I’ll miss you,” I add.
Her mouth curves into a wider smile. “I’ll miss you too.”
She steps into me before I can say anything else, arms wrapping tight around my neck. Habit has me catching her automatically, palm warm against the middle of her back while she squeezes me hard.
“Alright,” I mutter tightly, kissing the top of her head once as she pulls back. “Go before you make yourself late on the first day back.”
When I glance over, Penny’s watching us with that same soft look she gets whenever Elle barrels into her orbit, but she rises first and offers Elle her hand again.
“Ready for Operation First Day Back now?”
Elle nods firmly this time and threads her fingers through Penny’s. They head down the driveway together, and Elle skips twice before remembering she’s supposed to be acting mature for school, then immediately forgets again and starts hopping along the edge of the path.
Penny matches her pace without trying to slow her down, bending slightly when Elle talks, and listening intently to whatever story or fact Elle is telling her.
At the end of the path, Elle tugs her hand and says something that makes Penny laugh. Elle glances back once, just to check I’m still there, and I lift a hand.
She smiles, then turns forward again. Penny squeezes her hand as they reach the end of the drive and turns back too, her eyes locking with mine as she smiles softly. I nod once and return the smile, then watch them until they turn the corner at the end of the street, still holding hands.
Gus noses against my leg once before wandering back inside, and the quiet that settles over the porch feels strangely immediate after all that noise.
I feel the low tug again, but before I can try to decipher what it all means, I close the front door and head back inside.
***
When I arrive at the station, the bay doors are already open, the morning light cutting in. Fletch is leaning against the engine with a mug in one hand, running his mouth to Ghost about something that happened at Neverland last night.
“You’d think a grown man would know not to—”
The tones drop. The sound slices clean through my good morning greeting, and we’re moving before the dispatch finishes.
“MVC. Two vehicles—possible entrapment. Route 7.”
Beck’s already halfway to the engine. “Copy.”
Fletch tosses his mug onto the counter in the bay, then climbs up into the driver’s seat. Beck takes the officer’s position up front, tugging his headset on and confirming location and requesting additional EMS.
Colt, Ghost, and I grab our gear on the way past the racks, getting our turnouts on and helmets clipped. Then we pile into the truck, and by the time Fletch rolls us out of the bay, we’re strapped in and geared up.
The siren wails as traffic parts ahead, and my brain narrows the way it always does, drowning out the siren noise and truck horn.
In the back, it’s quiet, save for the sound of Ghost snapping on gloves. I map the street layout in my head. It’s a two-lane stretch with the tight shoulder, and the closest hospital’s twenty minutes away if traffic cooperates.
We pull up to twisted metal and steam rising from under a crumpled hood. One sedan’s front end is folded hard against the curb, airbags blown and windshield spiderwebbed white. Theother’s spun halfway across the lane with its bumper hanging loose into traffic.
