Bonus Epilogue

TRAVIS

Travis pulled into the Blackwater Fire Department and parked beside Matt. With forty-eight hours on and ninety-six hours off, starting work on a Monday morning like everyone else only came around once in a blue moon.

He clocked in before heading to the apparatus bay for shift change. Matt and Lucas laughed as they leaned against the emergency vehicle in bay one.

"What's so funny?" Travis asked.

Lucas shook his head as if he couldn't believe the story he was about to tell. "You know Maddie's aunt, Brenda?"

"Oh, yeah. I've met her."

Everyone in town knew Brenda. She'd moved here a few years ago, and the woman had enough personality to fill up a pro hockey arena.

Lucas wiped his eyes. "There's a skunk that's been hanging out around her house, so she decided to start feeding it, and now she has a new pet."

Travis let out a hearty laugh. "You're kidding? That sounds like something she'd do."

"I said the same thing," Matt added. He was closer to Brenda's age, and it wasn't uncommon to see the two of them dancing at Barn Sour on a Friday night.

They made a few more jokes as Lucas briefed them on the shift change. The last twelve hours had been slow, and everything was already restocked and ready to roll.

When Lucas clocked out, Travis playfully punched Matt on the arm. "Want to spar?"

"No, but I'll race you."

Travis clapped his hands and headed for his bunk room. "You got it. Meet you in five."

The rooms were pretty comfy. When you spent two days straight at the station, it was nice to have somewhere to catch a nap or watch a movie between calls and duties. He pulled a change of clothes out of his dresser just as the call sounded.

So much for that run.

He shoved them back into the drawer and headed for the apparatus bay, listening to the call as he raced down the stairs. Emergency medical services needed. One injured person. Loss of consciousness. He ran the route in his head as dispatch gave the location .

Matt was already loading the emergency vehicle when Travis made it to the garage. "You ready to roll?"

"Does Monday end in Y?"

Matt gave Travis a quick nod. "Let's roll."

The drive was short, and the two stayed silent to listen for updates from dispatch. Police were already on the scene, and the female was said to be involved in a hit-and-run.

This one could be bad. All joking from earlier died as they parked beside two law enforcement vehicles.

They hopped out of the ambulance, and Officer Jennifer Freeman met them as they approached.

"Single female seems to be the victim of a hit-and-run. She has a head injury and is losing blood. She's been unconscious since we arrived, but she has a steady pulse. We stabilized her neck and tried to stop the bleeding."

It couldn't get much worse than that. Loss of consciousness for this long with a head injury like that could mean a traumatic brain injury at the least.

Travis followed Officer Freeman and almost jerked to a stop when he caught sight of the woman. She lay on her back with a C-collar around her neck. One of the officers, Dawson Keller, knelt by her head as he applied pressure to a wound. Her whole body lay in a puddle of blood.

His gut twisted. She was young. Maybe in her early twenties. Her light hair darkened where it was soaked by the bright red.

"Oh, man," Matt whispered as he crouched at her side.

"Do we have an ID?" Travis asked as he knelt and opened the med kit.

"She doesn't seem to have a purse or anything in her pockets," Jennifer said.

Travis focused on gathering the things he needed to care for the head wound, while Matt readied things for her vitals check. It was a race against the clock with any head injury, and this one had them working double-time.

Travis swallowed hard as his chest constricted. He had a stone wall he put up around his emotions whenever he went out on calls. He had to detach in order to do his job, and he'd been doing it well for years.

The walls were usually solid, but the woman in front of him was close to his age and dancing on the line between life and death.

"You okay?" Matt asked without looking up.

The fact that Matt even asked said he was worried. The invisible bands around Travis's chest tightened. "Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

She would be fine. He'd do everything in his power to make sure of it, but starting his Monday with blood on his hands wasn't ever a good sign.

Are you ready for Travis's story with the mystery woman?

Check out Love and Memories , the fourth book in the Love in Blackwater series.