“Doctors would have preferred that, I think, but Juliet is determined to go home,” Olivia said.
“Of course she wouldn’t go to a rehab center.” Caitlin sounded as if no other option should have even been considered. “Sea Glass Cottage is her home. She loves it there.”
“Unless things have changed since I was there, which was years ago, the house isn’t very accessible. Won’t she need a wheelchair for a while?”
“She can get inside, at least,” Olivia said. “The house has a new ramp. Henry Cragun and his son and Caitlin worked on it last night.”
“It’s awesome. You should see it.” Caitlin’s voice filled with pride.
“I saw lights and activity at the end of my shift last night. Now I wish I’d stopped to check it out. I could have helped.”
“We were fine,” Caitlin said with that nervous laugh she did around him. “Thanks, though.”
Olivia was grateful he hadn’t stopped, she told herself. She had already seen him at least once every day since she’d been back in town.
“Is there anything else I can help do with your mom?”
“I don’t know yet. Henry Cragun is going to come over once we leave the hospital to see if we need assistance getting her inside and settled into her bed.”
“That’s nice of him. He’s a good man, Henry. If he’s not around and you ever need an extra pair of hands to help her transfer or anything, give me a call.”
His words warmed her, helping to ease some of her panic.
For a crazy moment, she wanted to lean into those wide shoulders and let him take some of her burden. No. She was a strong woman. She could handle it.
“Thanks, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. Caitlin and I can handle anything that comes along.”
Her niece looked surprised at the vote of confidence but, she thought, pleased.
They spoke for a few more moments to Mike about his background and learned he and Cooper had been pararescue troopers together. Caitlin seemed fascinated, asking him questions about the job, the training required and some of the exotic and remote places where he had performed rescues. She seemed to have no problem talking to Mike but grew tongue-tied when it came to Cooper. Olivia couldn’t really blame her. She felt much the same, though she had calmed considerably from when she first walked into the cafeteria. It was hard to feel threatened when they were at a table next to a couple of big, strapping firefighters.
Mike was telling them about the apartment he was renting on the other side of town when Olivia heard a loud, sharp crashing noise coming from the other side of the cafeteria and all her thoughts of calm left her in a wild rush.
Gunshot!
She wasn’t aware of sliding under the table, but the next thing she knew, she was crouched there, heart pounding and hands shaking. She couldn’t catch a breath, waiting for screams and yells and panic.
Caitlin. She needed to save Caitlin. She was grabbing at the girl to pull her down, too, but she wouldn’t budge. Why wasn’t anybody else panicking?
“Easy, ma’am. Somebody just broke some dishes. That’s all.” Mike Walker gazed down at her with calm, kind, warm dark eyes.
Dishes. Of course. That was what it had been. No one was screaming in terror or shouting out in unrestrained fury.
“Oh. It sounded like...” Gunshots. She couldn’t say the word, mortified that she had completely overreacted.
Cooper, who was closest to her, stuck a hand out to help her. “It’s okay. Come out. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
“Unless you happened to cut yourself on the broken plates, anyway,” Caitlin pointed out, looking baffled at Olivia’s reaction.
More embarrassed than she remembered feeling in her entire life, Olivia ignored Cooper’s hand and climbed out on her own, sitting again at the table. She couldn’t meet any of their gazes and certainly couldn’t have explained to them all why she had completely lost it at such an innocuous sound.
She lifted her coffee to her mouth with a hand that shook and drained it in one swallow.
“I should...check on my mom. She’s probably ready to go by now.”
“I’m done, too,” Caitlin said, rising from the table.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Cooper asked.
No. She hadn’t been all right in a week. When would the nightmares and flashbacks leave her alone?
“Fine. Just embarrassed at overreacting.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” Mike said softly. “We all have things that make us jump.”
They were firefighters who ran into burning buildings, she