Page 10 of Rescuer
Mia shook her head. “It was raining this morning. I’ll do it tomorrow morning.”
“I just don’t want you to skip your running because of me.”
Touched, Mia kissed her aunt’s cheek. “I won’t. I’ll start running again once my school stuff is ready.”
The next two hours flew by. By the time Gus was ready to watch her nightly game shows, Mia’s shoulders and back ached. A slight headache pounded behind her eyes. The kitchen sparkled and the mess was gone, but what would happen tomorrow?
Her lips tightened. She needed a new plan. Because there was no way she’d leave Gus with Anne Marie again. Her cousin was twenty-six, just two years younger than Mia. But she’d shown that she couldn’t be trusted.
She wasn’t getting a second chance.
Well, Mia would handle her when she arrived home. Right now, she had other things to accomplish. She needed to get the money owed to her so she could finish her master’s and open her crisis pregnancy center.
Pulling out her laptop, she settled in to find the foundation so she could finally make the life she wanted for herself. No one would hand it to her. It was up to her.
Mia never backed away from a challenge.
Three
The basketball whooshed through the air and smacked the metal backboard with a resounding clang. It dropped into the raggedy hoop.
“Woot!” Chase Neil, the most recent EMT on team three to join the station, pumped his fist into the air. He looked like an overgrown Boy Scout. “That’s game. What’s up, Doc? Usually you shatter me. Not that I’m complaining. A win’s a win.”
Natalie Fisher, Chase’s partner, scoffed. She wore her bright-red hair in a high ponytail this morning. The sun glinted off it. She pushed her blue-framed glasses up the bridge of her nose. Setting her crossword puzzle book aside, she stood and walked over to them. “I don’t believe it.”
Luke Moseborn, otherwise known as Moses, snickered. “King me.”
His partner, Amber Rhoads, groaned. “I’ll never learn this game. Why is it so hard?”
“Strategy, lass, strategy.” The Scottish accent he got from his mother marinated each word. “You can learn. Just be patient. It took me a while to get a handle on flying, but now look at me. I’m a chopper pilot in Renegade.”
Michelle Green pointedly ignored Chase’s continued bragging. She was on her tablet, Zooming with her sister, her hands flying in American Sign Language, or ASL. Michelle was their critical care nurse. She had also, until a week ago, been on the verge of getting engaged to Chase. No one knew why the two had suddenly called it off, but the atmosphere was a little tense whenever they were in the same room.
Jackson shook his head. Droplets of perspiration flew. “Take the win. It won’t happen again.” He wasn’t ready to talk about the court hearing yet. His stomach growled. “I’m going to grab a slice of that pizza Trent brought in.”
Sometimes Chief Trent Keith brought in pizzas from the pizzeria his sixteen-year-old son worked at. Mostly when they made too much or someone didn’t pick up an order. Trent and his wife Esperanza had adopted three children after fostering them for two years. Jordan was the oldest. His sisters, twins Julia and Jessica, would turn thirteen in October. They’d come into Trent and Esperanza’s lives so long ago that barely anyone remembered when they hadn’t been a part of the Keith family.
“Hey, Doc!”
Jackson bounced the ball back to Chase, then jogged over to Trent. “Yeah, Chief?”
“You have a visitor. He’s waiting in the kitchen.”
Dylan! Relief flooded him. He’d tried to call Dylan last night, but Dylan’s phone had been turned off. He’d tried again when he arrived a couple of hours ago. Same response.
“Oh, thanks!” He slipped past the chief and entered the station. He paused in the large main room, blinking for a few seconds until his eyes acclimated to the dimmer light, then he headed toward the kitchen. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
Kevin Fields sat at the rectangular table, cradling a mug of black coffee in his large hands. He wore a T-shirt that had seen better days and a pair of bright-blue running shorts with a neon yellow strip down the side. His legs were bare. It was the first time Jackson had seen the prosthetic that began below his right knee.
“Thanks for the warm welcome. Not exactly what I expected.”
Jackson’s gaze whipped back to Kevin’s face. The same sardonic grin he’d charmed girls with all during high school stretched across his face, as if the past eight years hadn’t happened.
“Sorry.” Jackson rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are you here, Kevin? I haven’t seen you for years. Is this about what happened yesterday?”
Kevin had never been the type to gloat, but until the day Jackson had visited him in the hospital after the accident, he hadn’t known his best friend was capable of vitriol and spite either.
“Wait a minute. What happened yesterday?”
