Page 52 of Phoenix Rising

Lucinda pressed her lips together, her heart pounding in her chest. She hated how right he was. She’d spent so much of her life trying to keep everything neat and orderly, trying to avoid the chaos that came with emotions and relationships. She’d told herself that Becky was asking for too much, that things were moving too fast. But deep down, Lucinda knew it was her own fear of losing control that had pushed her to run.

"I just don’t know if I can do that," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "Let go."

"You can," her dad said firmly. "But you have to want to. You have to believe that it’s okay not to have all the answers. To let somebody else help you steer your life."

Lucinda stared out the window of her apartment,watching the early morning sun break through the clouds. She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe that she could loosen her grip, that she could stop being so afraid of where life might take her.

But it was hard. It was terrifying.

"I’m not saying it’ll be easy," her dad added, as though reading her thoughts. "But you’ve got people in your life who care about you, Lucinda. You’ve got Becky, if you’ll let her in again. You don’t have to carry everything on your own."

Lucinda blinked back at the sudden sting of tears, her throat tightening. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d been carrying, how much weight she’d put on herself to keep everything together.

"I miss her," she whispered, the words spilling out before she could stop them.

Her dad’s voice softened. "I know you do. And I’m willing to bet she misses you too. But you won’t know unless you let yourself be vulnerable."

Lucinda nodded, even though he couldn’t see her.

She cleared her throat. "But what if she doesn't want me anymore? I said some terrible things."

Richard was silent for a moment. "That's herchoice to make, LuLu. But at least you tried and grew from the person you were before."

The whine of sirens echoed in the distance as Lucinda stood in the hospital's emergency room. Her shift had ended hours ago, but she'd stayed late to finish paperwork, letting herself drown in the mundane tasks to quiet her racing thoughts. Her eyes burned from fatigue, but sleep hadn't come easily since she left Becky.

The soft hum of the fluorescent lights buzzed overhead when her pager went off, dragging her attention back to the moment. She glanced down at it, her stomach twisting when she saw the code flash across the screen. Multiple casualties.

Her heart skipped, the cool professional demeanor she'd perfected cracking at the edges as she reached for the intercom. "All trauma teams to the emergency department. Prepare for mass casualty intake."

Lucinda's throat felt dry as she slipped into her scrubs, moving with the speed and efficiency drilled into her from years in the ER. Her personal turmoil was shoved into the back of her mind where it belonged. Now, she was Dr. Everett, head of trauma, nothing more.

She was still snapping on her gloves when thefirst ambulance roared in. The bay doors opened, and the smell of blood and burned rubber hit her before she even saw the patients. Her team rushed forward, but Lucinda held back, scanning for the severity of the injuries.

"Car pile-up on the interstate," one of the EMTs reported breathlessly as they unloaded a woman on a stretcher, her leg twisted at an unnatural angle. "Multiple vehicles. Semi-trucks involved. It's a mess out there, Doc."

Lucinda nodded, her fingers tightening around the clipboard in her hand. She could feel the tension in the air, the way her team braced themselves for the onslaught of chaos that was about to follow.

"Let's move, people!" she shouted. "Set up for triage in the secondary bay. Severe injuries here first. Get the minor injuries processed and out of the way. We need space."

There was no time to dwell on anything but the job. The hospital buzzed with urgency as more ambulances arrived, lights flashing against the darkened windows. Lucinda’s mind whirred, her focus solely on the patients as they were wheeled in, one after another. Fractures, head trauma, internal bleeding—theinjuries ran the gamut, but they had to keep moving.

That’s when she heard it: Becky’s voice.

She froze for the briefest of seconds, her hand hovering over a chart. It was unmistakable, the low, commanding tone she knew too well.

"Get that barricade up!" Becky’s voice barked through the radio. "And keep the bystanders back. We don’t need another damn accident."

Lucinda turned, catching a glimpse of Becky through the emergency room doors, standing just outside the entrance and organizing the flood of emergency responders towards the highway. Her sandy hair, usually tied back, had come loose, strands framing her face in the fluorescent emergency lights. She looked as composed and strong as always despite the chaos around her.

A sharp pain lanced through Lucinda’s chest, one she hadn’t felt in weeks. It was different seeing her now—so close, yet so distant. Their breakup had been messy, full of unspoken words and unresolved tension. Seeing Becky at a distance during smaller incidents had been manageable. This? This was something else.

"Dr. Everett?" One of the nurses tapped her arm, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Lucinda cleared her throat, forcing herself to focus. “Right. Stabilize the leg first. Prep for surgery. I’ll check on the next incoming patient.”

But her eyes darted back to Becky. She hadn’t seen Lucinda yet. Good.

Lucinda tried to shake the feeling, the familiar pang of longing mixed with frustration. There was no time to dwell on the past, not when lives were at stake. But it was hard to ignore the knot forming in her chest as she watched Becky take control of the scene, her voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

---