The nurses cheered.
“You belong in bed.” An older nurse named Lolly came around the desk, guided him back toward his room. “You’re going to need your strength. There are newspaper reporters and camera crews out there in the waiting room hoping to interview you.”
“What?”
“You’re a media star. A Denver TV station was there doing a piece about SnowFest. They got it all on camera. The reporter from the Scarlet Gazette is here. Lots of bystanders filmed you with their cell phones, so you’re trending right now. I can see how thrilled you are by all of this.”
“Jesus.” Jesse didn’t understand people. Why hadn’t they put their phones and cameras down to help?
“I can bring you some paper and a pencil if you want to write a statement. It might be best to give the reporters something. Maybe they’ll go away.”
“What should I say?”
“Hell if I know. I’m an LPN, not a public-relations consultant.”
That gave Jesse an idea. “I need to make a phone call.”
*
An hour later, Jesse’s body temperature was back to normal, and Victoria and Hawke sat next to his bed, proofreading the statement Victoria had helped him write.
“It looks good,” she said. “If only I had a printer…”
“I’m sorry,” Lolly said loudly as if she wished to be overheard. “We can’t let you use the hospital’s printers.” Then she whispered. “Give it to me. I’ll type it in at my station and print it from there.”
Jesse opened his mouth to ask when they were discharging him.
Lolly pointed at him. “You stay put. I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m done breaking the rules.”
She and Victoria left the room together.
Jesse sat back in the bed, impatient to be out of here. He wanted to get to Denver, to see Daisy for himself, to see Ellie. He had so much he wanted to say to her.
“You did a hell of a thing today, man,” Hawke said.
“Thanks for being there, for getting me out.”
“You saved that baby girl’s life, Moretti.”
“Hey, you and Silver did your part, too.”
Hawke shrugged. “We did our job, but you risked your life. You seem to have a habit of doing that.”
“I couldn’t let her die. I love that little girl.” He loved her mother, too, but that was harder to talk about with another guy than his feelings for Daisy.
Hawke changed the subject. “Once we get this printed out, we’ll wait till you’re discharged. Vickie will go out to the waiting room and read the statement while you take the hallway and head out the loading dock door. I’ll meet you there and drive you to your vehicle. How does that sound?”
It sounded good to him. “Thanks so much for your help. I just don’t have it in me to deal with reporters right now.”
“Happy to do my part.”
It was dark outside and bitter cold, the chill bothering Jesse in a way it hadn’t before. “Can you crank the heat?”
“Sure.”
The escape plot went off without a hitch—until Hawke pulled up to Jesse’s Jeep. A woman stood next to it, camera bag over her shoulder.
“That’s Wendy from the Scarlet Gazette. She had us figured out.”
When he stepped out of Hawke’s vehicle, Wendy hurried over to him, a copy of the statement Victoria had helped him write in her hand. “Please just answer a few questions for the hometown paper. Let us tell the story before the TV stations and the big papers get it. And, chief, I want to talk to you, too.”
Something in that touched Jesse, broke through his aggravation. “Okay, but can we sit in my vehicle? I’m freezing.”
They sat in the Jeep with the heat running, Jesse telling Wendy what had happened, answering her questions. She’d done her homework. She knew he was a member of the Team and a ski patroller. She also knew about his military service.
“So, you know the little girl and her mother?”
“We’re neighbors.” He left it at that.
“How long have you lived in Scarlet Springs?”
“It’s been almost three years. Still a newcomer, I guess.”
“You’re not a newcomer now, Mr. Moretti. You’re a hometown hero.”
Her words slid over him, strangely soothing.
They spoke for maybe twenty minutes, and then she let him go. “Thanks for what you did—and thanks for giving us a chance to tell the whole story first.”
She climbed out and went to pester Hawke, who waved to Jesse as he backed out of his parking spot and drove toward home and a hot shower.
*
Ellie went with her parents to the hospital cafeteria, more because they needed to talk than because she was hungry. They sat together at an open table, all of this feeling surreal to Ellie.
“I am so sorry. I let go of her hand to pay for cocoa and then zipped Daniel’s coat, and she was gone.”