Page 32 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“You, um. What are…” Myles twisted the T-shirts in his hands, then placed them into the case, smoothing over the wrinkles he’d made.

“Are you okay?” Ozzy asked. “That was intense. I had a moment there. Thank God Tris was around.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re sure? I assume you thought it was gunfire. You’re not…?”

“No. I’m not flashing back or anything. I didn’t know what it was. I just reacted. Old habits don’t die, I guess.” Myles sighed and slumped. “Stupid of me.”

Ozzy leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. “Some days, I’d have done the same. Some, I do what I did tonight and completely fold.”

“Because you thought of your Tris first, I think.”

“Maybe. And I panicked.”

“You stayed with him. Made sure he was okay.”

Ozzy grimaced. “No, I crumpled. But he can look after himself. And me, apparently.”

“But Jet and Shelly can’t, and I didn’t even think⁠—”

“You reacted how you were trained to react. I get Jet being scared. Tris was too. But they aren’t trained like we are. Neutralize the threat and all that.”

“Not what you used to say when I went off all Rambo.”

“I used to be a selfish prick.”

“And apparently, I still am.”

“Hey.” Ozzy pushed out of his lean and came into the room. “Don’t do that. Jet reacted out of fear. He’ll get over it.”

“But he wasn’t wrong, was he?” He turned back to the dresser for more clothes. “I took off without thought to what would happen if it was something dangerous and it got past me. Got to them.” He shuddered. “What if⁠—”

“Do not.”

“But—”

“Myles.” Ozzy actually laid a hand on his shoulder, and the familiar strength of it, the known comfort, bled into his soul. “Jet can be right, and you can be right too. They aren’t mutually exclusive. There was more than one right thing to do, and if you knee-jerked to do what you were trained to do, give yourself a bit of slack. You’ll get used to having the kids to think about.”

“If something happens to me, what happens to them?”

“You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. That, my friend, is a normal way for parents to think. Or so I’m told.”

“But I don’t have to take unnecessary chances.”

“Sure. That’s one take. But don’t expect to overcome years of training and instinct overnight. This is new. Give yourself time to learn, and a bit of grace when you make a mistake.”

Myles gazed up at him. “You’ve changed your tune.”

“I’ve grown up.” He smiled, and it was soft, even a bit sappy. “I’m not the center of my own world anymore, and I bet the more you get to know those kids, the more you’ll find the same thing.”

“I don’t know if I can do this, Oz.”

Ozzy squeezed his shoulder. “If not you, who?”

Myles said nothing, because there was nothing to say. Jet had been right, and so was Ozzy. He was all they had, and he’d made the wrong call. Again.

Ozzy took the clothes from his slack hands and put them back in the drawer. “I’ll stall them long enough for you to get that suitcase unpacked and back under the bed.”