Page 117 of Protecting What's Mine
Samantha rolled her eyes. “You guys are so weird.”
“Yeah yeah,” Linc said, grabbing his niece under the arms and plucking her off the stretcher. “Now, get out of here so I can kiss this pretty doctor in privacy.”
THEY MANAGEDone very thorough kiss before being summoned inside. With the students—and adults—thoroughly worn out, they all trooped into the school’s assembly room. It smelled like glue sticks and ravioli.
Mack laughed with the rest of the crowd as the firefighters donned their gear—in a speed competition, of course—and then did the floss dance on the stage. Judging by the gleeful faces surrounding her, she guessed that if one of these kids ever came face-to-face with a firefighter during an emergency, they’d feel joy, not fear. It was a smart, entertaining move.
And she had to admit,herfirefighter definitely had some nice moves.
After the dancing, the school principal invited all of the first responders onto the stage for a Q&A session with the kids.
The students asked Linc if he had a dalmatian. To their glee, he introduced them to Sunshine, who went nosing through the auditorium looking for treats.
They asked Sheriff Adler about catching bad guys and if he’d ever been in a car chase.
They wanted to know how tall Bubba was and if Sally would fly them home.
A kid with thick glasses and an Iron Man t-shirt raised his hand. “Dr. Mack, I told my dad I wanted to be a doctor, but he said it’s too much responsibility because it’s life and death and that I should be an accountant or something that doesn’t have to keep people alive. So, did you ever kill someone?”
The teacher holding the microphone for the kid snatched it away, hissing an “inappropriate” at him while the older kids in the crowd let out an “ooooh!”
The kid shrugged and watched Mack expectantly.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Faces flashed through her mind in rapid-fire. It wasn’t her life she was watching but the end of others. She’d lost some en route. Some she’d been too late getting to. A few had lost the fight after she’d gotten them to the hospital. And her first had died with his blood on her hands in an emergency department before she’d even finished med school.
That night, she’d lost a patient and become one in the span of minutes.
Under their own power, her fingers brushed over that scar as if she could still feel her own blood. Her hand was shaking.
Linc made a grab for the microphone the principal held. “To answer your question, Tony Stark, we all do everything we can to save every life. Sometimes we can’t. But most of the time we do. That’s why it’s important for all of you—” he pointed to the students. “—to know what do to in an emergency.”
“What do we do?” a tiny first-grader piped up from the first row. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail made of dozens of tiny braids.
“Seatbelts,” Linc said into the mic. “Say it with me, gang.”
“Seatbelts,” they parroted.
“Fire escape plans,” he continued. “Smoke detectors. Pull over for emergency vehicles when you’re on the road. Learn CPR and first aid.”
The crowd of kids repeated every word as if they were committing them to memory. And Mack hoped they were. Carelessness hurt people.
“Every one of you is a future hero,” Linc told them. “You just need to know what to do when there’s an emergency.”
He handed the microphone back to the principal and returned to his seat next to Mack.
“You’re my hero,” she whispered.
“About time you admit it,” he said, resting his arm on the back of her chair and letting his fingers stroke her neck.
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Linc walked Mack outside after the assembly. “You don’t have to ride back in the bird,” he told her. “I can drive you to get your car.”
He didn’t like how pale she’d gone at the kid’s question or how her hands had trembled. Secrets. She was keeping them.
“You’re working,” she reminded him.
