Page 72 of Buried Too Deep

It took him a second to process the reason behind it, but then he squeezed her hand back.

“She told you to run.”

Cora stared at Joy’s open door. “I should have stayed.”

“You might be dead now.” And he couldn’t stand the thought of that.

“Joy almost was,” she whispered. “You saved her.”

“Nah, it was the EMTs,” he said, and she looked up at him sharply.

“Stop that,” she snapped. “You stop that right now. You saved her life, Phin. Don’t minimize who you are and what you mean to Joy and all the rest of them.”

Phin blinked. “I don’t do that.”

Val snorted from behind them, startling him. He’d forgotten she was there.

“Yeah, you do,” Val drawled, “and it drives me nuts. Come on, children. We shouldn’t be standing in the hallway. We’re blocking the road.”

He tugged Cora toward the door. “Val’s right. Let’s do this. For Joy.”

Cora squared her shoulders, but the guilt was still there in her eyes. She fixed her lips in a smile that wouldn’t fool anyone who truly knew her.

Like Joy, who’d known Cora since she was a child.

The hospital room was less intense than Phin had expected. Not as many beeping instruments. And the room was filled with flowers and balloons.

Louisa stood when they entered, a relieved smile breaking over her face. “Oh, thank goodness. Mama’s been going on about how you needed to get your butts in here.”

“I said asses, not butts,” Joy said from the bed. Her voice was weak, but she was alive and Phin felt relief crash over him in a wave.

He was suddenly aware that he’d been expecting her to look much worse than she did. She was staring at him with one eyebrow raised, demanding he come closer.

A smile tilted his lips as he obeyed the command, stopping at the foot of her bed. “Hi, Joy.”

Joy’s stare remained sharp as a blade. “ ‘Hi, Joy,’ he says, like he hasn’t been gone for six weeks. Get in here, Phin. Both of you.” Her gaze dropped to their joined hands. “How long was I asleep, LouLou?”

Louisa was grinning. “Less than a day, Mama.”

“That’s what I thought. You move fast, boy.” She patted the side of her bed. “Cora Jane Winslow, get over here. Stop hiding behind Phin.”

Cora had indeed retreated behind his back. “She feels guilty for leaving you,” he said.

Joy huffed. “I figured that out myself. Don’t make me get out of this bed, Cora Jane.”

Cora eased forward, glaring at Phin. “Asshole,” she muttered.

He chuckled, not offended in the least. In fact, he felt calmer than he had in a very long time. “I’ve been called worse.”

Cora moved to the chair next to Joy’s bed. “I should have stayed with you,” she said stubbornly.

Joy’s eyes softened. “No, you did what I told you to do.”

Cora shook her head, sending her red curls bouncing in every which direction. “If I’d stayed, you might not have been shot.”

“I don’t think he meant to shoot me. Plus, I did shoot him first.” Joy said this so proudly that Phin laughed.

Cora snickered. “You’re a badass, Joy.”

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