His big body moved and suddenly he was rolling on top of her. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight as he reached out and pinned her arms over her head. His body weighed her down deliciously, making her sink into the bed. “That’s where you’re wrong. That’s where you don’t understand this town. Nothing else will happen. Not for a long time, and people here have good memories. They don’t go from one crisis to the next because there are almost no crises to be had. What happened today will be talked about for years. Likely as long as you live. You’ll be the woman who saved four people.”

“Only three.”

“Oh, I think Hallie would disagree. I think she would say you saved her life today, too.”

It hit her all at once. She was used to being in an ER, being in a trauma situation, but she wasn’t used to being alone. She’d been in the field before, but she’d always been support. She hadn’t been one hundred percent in charge. She could have lost that baby or her grandma. One wrong call and she could have lost a man who was in the prime of his life.

It had all been on her. Every second of the fallout from that accident had been on her.

“It’s all right, chère. Cry. You need it. You deserve it. You got through it all and you performed magnificently. Now let the pressure go. Let it out. You’re safe now.”

It welled up, a volcano she’d thought was dormant. The day flashed through her, the sights and sounds, the knowledge of the edge she played on. One wrong move. Only one wrong word from her mouth and the day would have ended differently. Lives would have been changed.

The tears flowed freely. “I could have killed them. It’s every nurse’s fear. Every medical professional’s. That we’ll make the wrong call and have to live with it forever. When you’re in an ER, it’s easier to distance, but I won’t be able to do that here.”

He shook his head and his eyes shone in the dimly lit room. “No, you won’t. You’ll eventually know these people and you’ll feel every death. It won’t matter if someone dies from old age or in an accident. You’ll feel it, Lila, and it will be the single best thing that ever happened to you because it will mean you cared, you loved. The pain is going to be worth it because they will love you, too, if you’re patient enough.”