Page 84 of One Second After Another

Every part of him knew she was alive.

It was her.

“Oh, my God,” his sister breathed.

Luca didn’t even take the stairs. The running start helped to launch him over the railing of the deck. He hit the ground already running. Roz’s footsteps beat against the wood of the deck’s stairs when he was already halfway across the backyard.

Unfortunately, he also got to watch as Penny’s knees hit the grass, and the red splotch in the front of the loose gown she wore spread wider. Little Cross was already in front of her, his words carrying back in the breeze to Luca’s spot.

“You came back,” he told her.

Penny’s laughter was weak, but real. “Of course, I did.”

“Because you never wanted to leave.”

“Ever.”

“Why are you bleeding?” Cross asked next, his voice pitching higher.

Luca was almost to them, so he was quick to shout, “Go get your father, buddy! Go tell him we need help!”

His nephew didn’t question him. Luca was able to catch Penny as she was falling to the side. Instead of meeting the ground, her shoulder and back tucked along his legs as he wrapped his arms around her. He had a lot of questions, but none of them wanted to come out when tired blue eyes blinked upward and met his.

Instead, he kissed her.

Leaning down, while his sister found the ground beside them and a little boy shouted for his father, he found something beautiful against the lips of his greatest treasure. His impossible wish. He felt her mouth curve against his, and the chapped texture of her lips moved with his. It was only when her damp, dirty hands found the sides of his face that Luca pulled back a bit.

There was too much blood.

He was trying to figure out why.

Then, her trembling fingers ghosted over his smiling lips—because despite the worry and sadness in his heart at seeing her in such a state—he couldn’t help the happiness swelling in his heart, either. For the first time, Luca truly understood what it meant to be overjoyed.

And it was overwhelming.

“What are you doing?” he asked her.

And where the fuck was Naz with help?

Like his sister could read his mind, Roz whispered to Luca, “Cross just got inside—Naz will only be a few more minutes.”

“We need a clean towel—something,” Luca muttered. “Me and Naz can get her in the house but—”

“I’ll run in and find something.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“I’ll be right back, Penny,” Roz told the woman shivering in Luca’s arms.

“I’m fine,” Penny said in a breath that rattled on the exhale, “just tired.”

But that wasn’t good, either. And the bloody gash on her chest was now more visible as she laid in his arms on the damp grass. He was grateful for the privacy of his best friend’s yard and regretted every single thought he’d had earlier about wishing he could be anywhere else.

“I am fine,” she promised. “I haven’t slept in fifty-two hours and—”

“Your chest is bleeding.”

“I shouldn’t have taken the trails. A root caught me when I slipped. That’s all.”