Alder

I ’m flying.

I’ve never been so happy in my life. Ivy’s just told me she wants to be with me. She wants me to be hers. And with the information I received this morning from her father, I’ll be able to explain my part in The Edgemont and ask her to stay with an offer to run it with me. Indefinitely. As well as riding the emotional high of her confession, I am also piloting the helicopter to our destination. Getting the call that there was an emergency out near Clearwater Canyon came at the most inconvenient time in my whole life, but I guess that’s the whole point of my profession.

“Almost there,” I relay to my crew, and they move around the cabin of the helicopter, getting ready to pick up our patient. Fifty-six. Male. Fell while hiking. Has a possible broken leg as well as a dislocated shoulder. Someone from the trail above was able to hear him yelling for help and called it in. Thankfully, they didn’t try to get to him themselves.

“Landing in forty-five seconds,” I say .

“Heard.”

“Copy.” Ty and Griff confirm they’ve heard me at the same time.

Once we’ve landed, I stay in the helicopter while Griff and Ty make the hike down to our patient. Sometimes too many sets of helping hands in a situation like this is not helpful.

“Patient has a broken tibia. I’ve splinted it, and he’s now on the stretcher. He has a confirmed shoulder dislocation. We’ll be back to you in two shakes of a lamb's tail,” Griff says over the comms.

“Otherwise known as two minutes,” Ty adds.

“Copy that. I’ll let the hospital know we’re ten minutes out,” I say into my headset.

I’m anxious to get back to town, and then back up the mountain, back home, back to Ivy.

We land on the hospital roof, then unload the patient, Steve, who was out for a hike and slipped on some ice before falling into the canyon. By the sound of it, it could have been a lot worse, especially if someone hadn’t been out on the same trail today to help us locate him.

“Alright, I’m out,” I tell Ty and Griff as I walk down the hall of the hospital to the elevators.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry? We were gonna go to AJ’s for a drink,” Ty asks me.

“I’ve got something important to take care of,” I tell him.

“Ooooo…you got a date, ?” Griff calls.

“Something like that,” I yell as the elevator doors shut. Date. Locking Ivy down for good. Keeping her forever. Yeah, something like that. I shake my head .

I pull my phone out and see I have a missed call. It’s from Sullivan. Sighing, I hit his number and wait for him to pick up.

“Hello,” he answers.

“Sullivan. I thought all our business was finished after the transaction this morning,” I say.

“Business is all wrapped up. I was calling to let you know that Noah James was arrested on your property earlier.”

“He was where?” I ask, worrying for Ivy and struggling to stay in control. “Was he alone?”

“No. I was there as well as my daughter,” he explains.

“Ivy was there? Is she okay?” I let the fear into my voice now.

“She’s fine. When I left, she was still in her office. A bit confused by our partnership, but physically she’s fine,” he tells me. She knows. She knows, and it wasn’t me who told her. Is all I can think. No. Fuck. “I offered her the job, so she should be out of your hair soon,” he comments. “If that’s all. I have other business to attend to.” He doesn’t wait for my reply before hanging up. Shit, shit, shit. I see I have three texts, two are from the family group chat, and one is from Ivy.

Stormcloud

I’ll be at the office late tonight.

That’s all it says. I shoot off a reply.

I’m on my way. I’ll be there soon.

Please don’t leave. Please just give me a chance.