Page 65 of Phoenix Rising

Lucinda chuckled, glancing down at her ruined clothes. “You’re one to talk.”

Becky grinned, but there was exhaustion behind it. “Touché. But seriously, get some sleep. You’re no good to anyone if you collapse.”

Lucinda nodded, though she knew sleepwouldn’t come easily. Not after everything that had been said, and everything still left hanging in the air between them.

Becky gave her one last, lingering look before turning and heading back inside the EOC. Lucinda watched her go, her heart heavy with longing and something else she couldn’t quite put into words. She had laid her heart bare, but now she had to wait and see what Becky would do with it.

With a sigh, Lucinda turned back to the view of the soaked city. The streets were a mess of debris and standing water, but there was an eerie calm to the scene, as if the storm had swept away more than just the rain. It had cleared the air, leaving behind a strange kind of stillness, a blank canvas for what might come next.

Lucinda leaned against the railing, her thoughts wandering back to the moment in the storage closet last night. The desperate way they had clung to each other in the dark, both knowing it might be their last chance, had felt like a confession of sorts. A way of saying all the things they had been too afraid to say out loud. But now that they were on the other side of it, Lucinda knew that passion alone wouldn’t be enough. It wasn’t the sex that scared her; it was what came after—the vulnerability, the openness, the need to trust someone completely.

She let out a shaky breath, and her eyes unfocused as she stared at the horizon. Maybe that was why this felt so terrifying. She was trying to let go of control, trying to trust Becky again, but it was like standing on the edge of a cliff, unsure if she would be caught or if she would fall.

Lucinda’s phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling her from her thoughts. She glanced at the screen and saw a message from Artie.

Artie: Hey, just heard things are calming down over there. You doing okay?

She smiled faintly at his concern, tapping out a quick reply.

Lucinda: Yeah, we made it through. It was touch and go with the dam for a while, but things are looking better now.

Artie’s response came almost immediately.

Artie: Good to hear. Take care of yourself, Luce.

Lucinda: I will. Promise.

She pocketed her phone and glanced up at the sky again. The storm had broken, but inside her, the turbulence still lingered. She could feel the weight of everything pressing down on her—theexhaustion, the uncertainty, the raw emotions that had been laid bare between her and Becky.

But there was also hope.

Lucinda let her thoughts drift to tomorrow, to Becky’s house where they would finally have the conversation that had been brewing for weeks. She didn’t know what would come of it, but she was ready to face it. She was ready to face Becky, to face her fears, and to stop running from the things that scared her the most.

The sound of distant footsteps brought Lucinda back to the present. One of the EOC workers, a young woman in a fluorescent vest, was making her way toward her. Her face was pale, eyes wide with exhaustion, but she managed a polite smile as she approached.

“Dr. Everett,” she said, her voice thick with fatigue. “They’re requesting your presence in the medical bay. We’ve got a few more patients coming in from the outskirts of town.”

Lucinda sighed, rolling her shoulders as if she could shake off the weariness that clung to her. “Of course. I’ll be right there.”

The young woman nodded and trudged back toward the EOC building, leaving Lucinda alone once more. She took one last look at the sky andthe rays of sunlight filtering through the thinning clouds before turning and heading inside.

As she walked down the corridor, her mind was already shifting gears, focusing on the patients, reports, and logistics of managing the aftermath of the storm. It was easier to slip into that mode and focus on the work, where everything made sense, where she was in control. But even as she dove into the familiar chaos of her job, there was a part of her that kept circling back to Becky—to the way her lips had felt, soft and urgent against her own, to the way her arms had wrapped around her like a lifeline.

Lucinda smiled to herself as she made her way toward the medical bay. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and when it did, she would be ready.

For now, there was work to do.

19

BECKY

The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the front yard as Becky leaned against the porch railing of her house. The air still smelled damp from the rain that had battered Phoenix Ridge for days, but the threat of disaster had passed. Becky watched the horizon, lost in thought. Her mind wasn’t on the recent floods or the emergency response efforts she had spent countless hours organizing; it was on Lucinda.

Just the thought of her sent a shiver down Becky’s spine. They had been through so much together, personally and professionally. The past few weeks had felt like a whirlwind of emotionalhighs and lows, but there had been one clear constant through it all: Lucinda.

Even when things between them were shaky, when the weight of their breakup had settled like a stone in her chest, Lucinda had always been there in some capacity. And now, things had shifted. They were standing on the edge of something new, something that felt terrifyingly real but also right.

Lucinda was... What was she to her?

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