Anchoring.
I close my eyes and lean back, letting the sting burn through my senses. It scrubs out the residual smoke—the echo of her scent—something soft, clean, just a trace of sweetness.
I shouldn’t notice things like that.
Idon’tnotice things like that.
Not anymore.
Peppermint. Again. Slower this time.
I press the heel of my palm to my chest.
There’s no reason she should be lingering. No reason my brain should still be playing back the way her lashes fluttered when I said she was okay. The way her eyes tracked Levi.
Jealousy isn’t a luxury I allow myself. I don’t even know this woman.
But I felt it. Brief. Cold. Sharp-edged.
I open my eyes.
This is why I don’t do this.
Why I avoid patients outside the clinic. Why I keep everything categorized. Organized. Contained.
Because when something slips through, it wrecks me.
I stare at the closed office door. Listen for footsteps.
There are none.
Levi’s out there, probably making sure she got into his truck okay and probably asking if she’s eaten. Probably knowing precisely what to say, the way he always does.
And I’m in here, hiding like a fucking coward.
I glance down at my hands.
They’re still steady.
But I’m not.
CHAPTER FOUR
Wren
Levi reappearswith a pair of rolled socks and a lopsided smile. “He disappeared with the sandals,” he says, eyebrows lifting like he’s both amused and apologetic. “But are you okay?”
I nod, though I feel like a live wire, every nerve slightly frayed. “Yeah. Thanks again. For everything.”
He crouches beside me and helps me ease the socks over my still-damp feet. His touch is gentle, respectful. I glance down at his hands—strong and callused, capable. The kind of hands that rebuild things.
He doesn’t say anything about how ridiculous I must look, curled up on a clinic cot in borrowed sweats, smelling like char and smoke, barefoot and blinking like I’ve been time warped.
He finishes tugging the socks into place and rises with a soft grunt. The warmth of his palm lingers on my ankle.
I shift, my hand smoothing the hem of Levi’s hoodie, which smells faintly of pine and antiseptic. “Where’d everyone else go?” I ask, realizing how quiet it is now.
The clinic is still, and the rest of the paramedic team is nowhere to be seen. Night pulled itself over the town like a thick quilt.
