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Her eyes went to his. Dark, he thought, but as the light wasn’t good he couldn’t tell the exact color. Last time he’d seen this woman she’d probably been in grade school, seeing as he hadn’t put in much time at high school, and was still wearing those pigtails her mom loved. The truth was he couldn’t remember much about her, because Luke had been one of the bad Trainer boys, that everyone avoided.
“You okay, Quinn?”
“Dad?” Luke held her down as she tried to rise.
“He’s okay and getting checked over. You got any burns?”
She shook her head. “I want to see him.”
“Just take a minute to get your breath, then I’ll help you up.”
She inhaled, then exhaled with a cough.
“You sure you’re not hurting anywhere, Quinn?”
“No. I need to go to Dad.” She got to her feet.
“He’s okay.” He tried to push her back down, but she resisted. “Steph is taking him to the house. The ambulance should be arriving any second. You need to sit and rest.”
“I have to go to him.” She was quick and slipped out of his grip before he could stop her. Luke didn’t follow, instead moving to check progress in putting out the fire. Steph was with her father, and she’d check her over before the ambulance arrived.
He and the rest of his crew worked in dousing the flames and finally managed to get it under control.
“You got this now?” he asked.
“Got it,” they yelled back.
He left two crew to check for hot spots and headed to the house. When he reached it, he found the ambulance had arrived and Mr. Harper was seated inside. One of the paramedics was with Quinn a few feet away.
“How’s she doing?”
“Okay. Some smoke inhalation but good otherwise. No burns,” the paramedic said.
Mrs. Harper was standing a few feet away, her gaze going from her husband to her daughter.
“They’re going to be okay,” he said, moving closer.
“I can’t thank you enough for saving my family, Luke.”
“Your daughter had it covered, I just helped.”
“She was not strong enough to get Ivan out.” She looked close to tears. “If you hadn’t come, I don’t know what would have happened.”
“Does Ivan have crutches?” Luke asked Mrs. Harper.
She clamped her lips into a tight line. “He has crutches but seems to think he can hobble about without them.” Mrs. Harper moved closer to her husband when he called her name.
Luke looked at Quinn, who was watching her parents walk away. The paramedic was back at the ambulance so she stood all alone now. She wore a military cap with the word “Quinderella” on the back. Curls came through the opening and poked out underneath. It topped her outfit of jeans and a sweatshirt, and on her feet were tan leather boots.
“Things are under control, Luke.”
“Thanks, Mani.”
Luke took off his helmet, and shrugged out of his heavy coat, then moved to stand in front of Quinn. Shock was setting in; he could see the signs. She was shivering. Her knees seemed to give out, and she fell onto her butt.
“Hey, Quinn, you doing okay?” He crouched before her.
“Yes. Thank you for saving my dad.”
