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“He’s my big brother,” Ryker told the man hoarsely.
“Talk to him. Keep him talking, okay? Tell him everything’s going to be fine. Can you do that?”
Ryker looked into the man’s concerned brown eyes, and he said, “Yes.”
The man grabbed the bag he’d dropped and jumped up. He rushed over to where Eddie was. He talked to the other fireman and pulled something out of his bag, then waited.
“Ryker?”
Ryker looked down at Derek. His lips were blue. Of course they were; the Pacific Ocean was cold and Derek had gone in without a wetsuit.
Ryker could barely hear him, he put his ear near Derek’s mouth. “Yeah?”
“Eddie?”
Ryker looked over but couldn’t see much. Everyone was standing around the lifeguard who had done CPR on Derek. He was using something on Eddie that almost looked like paddles that he’d seen on some of those hospital shows. But that couldn’t be right.
“I don’t know, Derek,” Ryker whispered.
Derek pushed himself up, dislodging the blanket. He got onto his hands and knees.
“Dude, I don’t think you’re supposed to move.”
“Gotta see about—”
Two EMTs ran past Derek and Ryker, one of them holding a stretcher under his arm like a surfboard. They crashed to the ground on their knees beside the first two men. The four of them loaded Eddie onto the stretcher. Two EMTs walked really fast to the parking lot with the stretcher between them while the third guy held a canister of oxygen with an oxygen mask over Eddie’s face. Derek and Ryker watched as they loaded up Eddie.
“How are you doing?” A large Polynesian EMT asked Derek as he squatted down beside him.
Derek tried to kneel up from where he was on his hands and knees, but when he did, he started to cough.
“Hey, why don’t you lie back down? From what I’ve heard, you had a rough morning.”
Derek didn’t listen. He finally knelt up and said, “I’m fine,” between coughs.
“What’s your name?”
“Huh?”
“What’s your name?”
“Derek McQueen.”
Ryker was relieved that his brother’s coughing had stopped.
“I’m going to need to take you to the hospital.” The EMT looked concerned.
“Why? I told you I was fine.”
“Just to get you checked out.”
“But—”
“Don’t be an asshole. Go with him,” Ryker said.
Ryker looked at his father. Ryan McQueen never claimed to have all the answers, but on the important shit like this, he absolutely did. Why not now?
“You’ve got to say what’s in your heart.”
