“Welcome to Somebody Said in Sweetbriar… Some nights, the dark gets loud enough to drown out everything else. But if you listen close, there’s always someone nearby who knows exactly when to turn on the light—or climb through the window and sit with you in the dark.”
“Okay,” he said, voice soothing. EMT, firefighter, and all business professional hero. “Look at me.”
I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t focus.
“Becca. Eyes.”
I forced myself to look at him. His expression was focused, calm. Not panicked.
“You’re breathing,” he said evenly. “It just feels wrong. Stay with me.” He settled beside me. One arm came around my back. The other pressed gently but firmly against my sternum. “Match my breath,” he said. “Try for me, sweetheart.”
He inhaled slowly.
I tried, but it ended up gasping instead.
“That’s okay. Again.”
His hand slid to the back of my neck, thumb moving in slow circles just below my hairline. His body was warm against mine.
“Hey,” he murmured, voice softer now, almost a whisper. “Come back to me, Becca, okay? Just stay with me. Remember that summer we were thirteen? The day we all took the inner tubes down to Miller’s Bend—you, me, Harper, and Jude?”
I blinked at him, confused, chest still heaving.
“Close your eyes if you can. Just listen to my voice. Feel it with me. Feel the sun on your face.”
I let my eyelids flutter shut.
“Start with what you can feel. Remember how the water felt when we first slid in? Cold at the beginning—sharp enough to make your breath catch—but then it turned cool and smooth, sliding over your skin like silk. Feel that now. The gentle pull of the current against your legs, slow and steady, carrying you forward without rushing. Nothing fast. Just floating. Safe.”
His thumb kept those slow, soothing circles at the back of my neck.
“Now picture the colors. See Harper’s bright pink swimsuit catching the sun every time she moved. Your faded blue tank top—the one with the little tear on the shoulder—looking almost purple in the light against the green water. The trees overhead were deep green, sunlight breaking through in bright gold patches that danced on the surface. Yellow light, green leaves, blue water, pink and blue clothes. Hold those colors in your mind. They’re still there. Remember them?”
My breathing hitched, but it was slower now.
“Smell it. Warm pine needles in the sun, that clean, earthy river smell—cool water and wet rocks and moss. And the faint coconut from Harper’s sunscreen she kept passing around. Feel it on your shoulders again, warm from the sun.”
A tiny tremor ran through me, but the tightness in my chest eased a fraction.
“Listen. Harper squealed when the cold hit. Jude laughed so hard he snorted. You laughed right there with them, bright and loud, the sound bouncing off the water. The soft lap of the river against the innertubes, the drip of water from someone’s hair. Safe sounds. Fun sounds.”
“Breathe with me.” His palm stayed warm and steady against my sternum. “In for four… hold… out for six. Come on. You got this.”
I followed. The edges of the panic softened.
“Feel where we are right now. My hand on your back—solid, warm, not moving. The mattress under you, the soft blanket. My heartbeat if you lean closer. I’m real, and I’m right here. Not the river anymore, but still safe. Still us. You’re right here with me, aren’t you, sweetheart? Feel me. I’m here, and you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you, not ever.Shh…”
My vision cleared. The room steadied. The crushing tightness eased enough that I could finally fill my lungs without choking on the air. I turned into him without thinking and buried my face against his chest. He smelled like clean soap and warm skin and that faint trace of smoke that never quite left him after a shift. His arms closed around me completely.
“I’ve got you,” he said quietly. “I won’t let go. Breathe with me. You’re safe.”
He didn’t ask what happened. Didn’t push me for answers. He just held me like he’d been waiting for me to let him.
My hands curled against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat under my cheek. My body slowly matched it.
“Bad dream?” he asked after a minute.
I nodded.
