Page 47 of From the Embers

It’s just another day on the job. Another day where I get to think about all the things that I couldn’t change. If we’d gotten there sooner, if we’d have gotten the mom out first… But Hope was right there in my grasp, and she’s okay. That means something. I saved her…

“Denver?” Adi’s voice wakes from my sleep. “Are you okay?”

I blink, her pretty face coming into view.

“Shit, I was dreaming.” But all of it was real.

“You were calling out for Hope?”

“Fuck,” I mutter, sitting up.

“Who is Hope? You seemed so distressed.” She soothes my back with her palm and it’s then I realize the bed sheets look like a tornado.

“She’s the… the kid I saved, her siblings, mom, and grandma all died.”

“Holy shit, D, and you didn’t say anything?”

I blink, then shift my gaze to her. “This,” I say pointing to me and her. “This wasn’t a distraction, I promise. I admit I was trying to take my mind off it⁠—”

“You don’t ever have to explain to me, you hear me?” She presses her head to my shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“It never gets any easier.”

“You should have called me, I could’ve done something.”

I smile softly. “I never want to burden you with any of this, it isn’t right.”

She shakes her head. “I come from a long line of survivors, D. We’re tough. Okay, maybe that gene skipped Daryl,” she laughs. “But I’m here. No obligation, just as a friend.”

“Thank you.”

“Can you visit the girl? In the hospital?”

I glance at her. “We can. I don’t usually, but under the circumstances, I think it would be good. I don’t know for sure though about Hope, she’s traumatized enough. I don’t want to add to it.”

She presses kisses to my cheek. “I want to help.”

“You do help, just by being here.”

I think about her words. I should go and see the child. After this, she’ll be going into child services, and then who knows where. I shudder at the idea. Those big, blue, innocent eyes as she took my hand so trustingly. I pulled her out of the wreck and she asked me to get Duckie.

I didn’t know who that was until I saw the duck on the backseat between her siblings. I grabbed it and she cuddled it close to her chest. That could be what broke me right there. That she knew, somehow, that she’d be needing that damn duck.

“I don’t usually let things get to me,” I say, my voice barely a whisper. “But this child witnessed her siblings being pulled out of the wreck. Her mom—alive at the time—and her grandma. Everyone gone in the blink of an eye because Mom made a bad decision. Now what happens?”

“I don’t know. But what I do know is you care so much about people,” Adi says, her voice soft and warm. “That’s one of the things I love about you, what I’ve always loved…”

I glance up as she doesn’t finish the sentence, a hand sliding over her mouth as if she’s only just realized what she said.

I tilt her chin up. “You love me?”

She bites her lip, unsure if she should say it again, but I want her to.

“Adi?” I encourage.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m not meant to say things like that!”

I don’t hesitate, I cover her mouth with mine, my kiss passionate and all consuming.