Tank had spoken to Cassie and he’d filled her in on the details of the fall. Reed had been lucky that he’d been able to get his flare into the sky before losing consciousness. Otherwise, it could have taken hours for the crew members to locate him. As it was, they’d had to carry him out four miles on treacherous mountain terrain to safety.

The crew had pulled through for their leader and their friend when he’d needed them most. They were all lucky. Things could have been so much worse.

She shivered. She wouldn’t think about that now. He was safe. Her father had saved him.

“He’s stable right now, but risk of infection means we have him on heavy antibiotics and pain meds, so he is going to be out for a while.” He checked his watch.

It was after 11:00 p.m. She’d been watching the minutes tick by for hours.

“Can we see him?” Arlene asked.

“Not yet. Give the antibiotics some time to kick in,” he said. “We don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. Once we move him into recovery, I’ll get the attending nurse to come get you one at a time.”

Her dad was bending the rules by including her. It was normally just family who were permitted to see a patient this soon after surgery.

She was grateful to him...for so much.

Arlene nodded, taking his hand. “Of course... Thank you, Alan.”

Her father looked slightly uncomfortable at the familiarity, or maybe it was her grateful tone and touch. But he surprised Erika by covering Arlene’s hand with his own. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I was able to help.”

Cassie moved in to hug him and her father flinched slightly but it wouldn’t have been noticeable to anyone but Erika. He wrapped an awkward arm around Cassie and patted her on the back.

Erika was so proud of him. “Thank you, Dad,” she mouthed when his gaze met hers above Cassie’s head.

He simply nodded before turning to head back into surgery.

The three of them sat on the waiting room chairs they’d occupied for hours. Cassie spoke first. “Now if you’d been there, you could have performed this surgery right there on the mountain, saving us all a trip,” she said through a new batch of tears.

Erika hugged her friend. “From now on, I will be...”

Cassie pulled back. “What do you mean?” she asked, wiping her tears on her sleeve. Judging by her red off-the-shoulder sweater and black leather pants, she’d abandoned New Year’s Eve plans to be there for her brother.

“I’ve accepted the surgeon position in Wild River. I’m starting there in two weeks.” Saying it out loud made it that much more real and made her even more confident it was what she wanted.

Her friend studied her. “You’re doing this for Reed?”