Page 23 of Shelter for Morgan

"I'm sorry."

Abe drew in a breath and swallowed. "No biggie."

"It's been... a rough morning."

Abe looked over at the wall toward the clock. "That's an accomplishment."

Rhett felt one corner of his mouth lift, just a hint. "Well, some of us are over-achievers."

Abe almost spit out a laugh and then he really did laugh. "Wow. Was that a joke?"

Rhett didn't know what to say.

Except for the truth.

"Maybe."

Abe walked closer to him, finally lowering his backpack off of his shoulder. "You're a scary man sometimes."

Rhett looked away for a moment. "It's not intentional."

Abe opened his locker door and hung his backpack on the hook inside. "It's not always a bad thing. Working as a firefighter I've met a bunch of bad asses. FBI Agents. Texas Rangers. Game Wardens. Sheriff's deputies. Even firefighters like Pen. We can all be bad asses when we need to. You have that ability in spades, but I've also seen you take care of screaming kids and people panicking in some of the scariest times of their lives.

"You didn't scare them. You comforted them. You have this super steady kind of personality and people latch onto that. They look at you and they trust you. That's bad ass, too."

Rhett listened to Abe's words, but he wasn't sure he could see himself in those descriptions.

"I don't know what's gotten under your skin today, Rhett, but I do know one thing." He closed his locker door and shrugged into his SAFD jacket with a smile. "When we're on a call, you'd never let things affect the way you do your job. You're going to be our rock just like you always are. It's what we count on."

With a nod and a lop-sided grin, Abe walked out and into the hallway.

Rhett reached into his pocket and took out his cellphone.

There was still time before the school day started, but he knew that Morgan had to get her orientation before the start of school. She'd told him that she had to go in and get her ID, her keys, and have a basic walk around her building before opening up her classroom.

He wasn't about to call and ask her if she was replacing someone who'd been killed on school campus.

That would be cruel no matter what the circumstances were.

Sitting down on one of the benches that lined the aisle between the lockers, he opened up a browser and typed in a few keywords to search for news.

He didn't watch any of the videos about the shooting. He just read a couple of articles and nothing he read helped to put his worries to bed.

The teacher was in a coma with little chance of recovering. Her family was devastated. And law enforcement had no idea what had prompted the shooting or any reports about who might be responsible.

Rhett made a mental note of the name of the school resource officer and before he put this phone away, he took a screengrab of the article in the small likelihood that he'd forget.

The alarm sounded and Rhett shot up onto his feet.

"Car accident on Grapevine and Tetley. Two cars involved. Head on. Injuries reported."

Rhett made a quick pass through the gear room on his way to the apparatus floor. He was shoulder to shoulder with Cowboy as they got to the truck.

"All right. Let's go."

Rhett felt his focus narrow on the job ahead.

He had to.

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