I shadowed Cassidy while she gave her report to the EMTs. Sybil climbed up into the back of the ambulance, and Cody followed behind in their car with his mama and Sybil’s sister. There was another round of “nice jobs” and “real prouds” as Cassidy worked her way through the crowd.

She was exhausted. I could tell by the slump of her shoulders, the shadows under her eyes.

I took her arm and led her through the throng of people. “Are you okay?” I asked.

She rolled her shoulders. “I’ll be better when we hear for sure Melly’s all right.” Cassidy shook her head. “That was the scariest moment of my entire life.”

“You were amazing,” I told her. She was. I’d come running with half of the rest of town. But while everyone was watching the baby and sending up prayers, I watched Cassidy. She was a hero. A real-life hero. Some people were made to do this job. She was one of them.

“Just doing my job,” she said lightly. “Well, my ex-job. I don’t have a job now.”

“Cass, we need to talk.”

She stopped mid-stride. “We sure do. But if you try to break up with me now, I will never, ever forgive you, Bowie Bodine. I’m amped up on adrenaline right now and I won’t be held accountable for my actions. I have a speech prepared.”

I slipped my arm around her waist and hauled her up against my side.

She rested her head on my chest, and for the first time in days I felt like everything was going to be okay.

“I am not breaking up with you. You’re gonna have to work a hell of a lot harder to get rid of me.”

“You disappeared on me,” she said sadly.

“I’ve been real busy working on my grand apology,” I told her.

She straightened away from me. “No, sir. No way. I’m apologizing first.”

I laughed and reeled her back in. “Let’s grab a coffee and then we’ll both apologize.”

She let me steer her into Yee Haw, and I relished being out in public with her. I ordered two coffees, keeping my arm tight around her waist.

“On the house for Baby Melly,” the barista said. “You’re a goddamn hero, Cassidy Ann Tucker.” The clientele around us exploded into raucous applause, and I worried I’d pop the buttons right off my shirt with pride. My girl.

“Nice to see y’all not necking in an alley for a change,” Old Judge Carwell said, tipping his hat at us as he wandered by with his chai latte.

Cass shot me a look.

“So it seems like our secret relationship wasn’t very secret,” I confessed.

“Even Connelly knew,” she sighed. “Which reminds me.” She handed me her coffee and patted her pockets until she pulled out a stack of note cards.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m apologizing.” She studied the first card. “Okay. Hi, Bowie. Thanks for agreein’ to see me.”

“I found you on the sidewalk giving CPR to a baby.”

“Shh!” she shushed me. “Don’t make me lose my place.” She cleared her throat, skimming the card. I steered us back outside. We had a very important place to be.

“Okay. Um. I owe you an apology. Several in fact.” She flipped the card, and I tugged her down the block.

“You’re doing real good, honey,” I told her.

“Thanks. I’m sorry for setting us up to fail. For being too scared to get hurt to trust you fully.”

“You’re forgiven.”

She looked up at me and scowled. “You can’t forgive me yet. I’m not done apologizing.”

“My apologies. Please continue.”

“I’m sorry for not trusting you and then dragging you into a personally damaging situation without realizing how it would hurt you.”

“That’s real nice, Cass.”

“Thanks! Juney helped me with it a little.”

Clay Larkin, Leah Mae’s daddy, spotted us and made a beeline for Cassidy.

“Cassidy Tucker, I heard about what you did for Baby Melly. Brace yourself because you’re about to get hugged.”

I grabbed her coffee just before Clay lifted her six inches off the sidewalk. Three notecards slipped out of her grasp and floated to the ground. His fiancée, Betsy, clapped and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

“Honey, you made us all real proud. Real proud,” Betsy said when Clay returned Cassidy to the sidewalk. She leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “And y’all are the sweetest couple. We’re so happy for you.”

Cassidy turned a pretty shade of pink. “Thanks. Uh. Thank you.”

Betsy looked at me and surreptitiously tapped her watch. I nodded.

“C’mon, Cass. We’ve got places to be.”

“We do?” she asked. I handed her coffee back and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

“Hang on. I’ve got more to say.” She peered down at her cards and cleared her throat. “For not banging on Gibson’s door and demanding you tell me the truth all those years ago. Huh. I think my cards got shuffled.”

“Still sounds real good,” I told her. She was so busy looking at her notes, she didn’t notice the crowd forming around the police station’s front door.

“I also owe you an apology for agreeing to be in a temporary, secret relationship with you because—what the hell is going on?”

At that moment a minivan blazed up the street and squealed to a stop in front of the station. The passenger doors opened, and the elderly of Bootleg Springs started pouring out onto the sidewalk. Walkers and oxygen tanks were handed out to their owners. Behind the wheel, Estelle slipped her driving gloves off and gave me a flirty wave.

“Uh, Bowie? What’s going on?”

“You had your apology. I’ve got mine.”