Patrick puts his arm around Janna. Now that we’ve done our part, and Matt’s in professional hands, it’s time to collapse, apparently. She wails into his shoulder.
“Come on,” I say. “We have to go after them.”
When we reach the parking lot, the paramedics have Matt on the stretcher at the door of the ambulance. Simon and Celia are huddled by Simon’s car.
“Are any of you a sibling?” one paramedic asks. Maybe someone answers.
I’m at Matt’s side. They’ve given him something and he looks more alert. His eyes flick over me. “Hey, you.” He stretches up and kisses me on the mouth. In front of everyone.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, then wish I hadn’t. Maybe one betrayal deserves another. Or maybe it’s because everything that’s wrong was in that kiss. I can still taste it.
The paramedics heft him into the back of the ambulance, tearing him away from me. And then they’re gone.
“He’s going to be okay,” Janna says. “Isn’t he?” She and Celia are holding hands.
“How did you know where to send them?” I ask Janna, still reeling from the EMS flurry.
“I’ve been hiking here with him before,” she says.
A tearful Celia rushes forward and hugs each of us. “He looked bad.”
“Yeah, it’s bad,” Patrick says.
“So what are we going to do?” Janna says.
Something escapist, I imagine? But no one speaks. No one moves. No one offers an idea for a long, long minute.
“We can’t not talk about it,” Celia blurts out. “I mean, come on.”
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Simon mutters.
“Let’s get out of the cold,” Patrick says. “And then, yeah, we should talk about it.”