off his glasses, gave them another wipe, then looked again.
A stuffed bear.
His gut churned. She didn’t just mean there was another person in the car with her. She meant there was a kid in the car. A kid named Xavier.
* * *
Like many of my books, the idea for First Responder on Call came to me in the form of a single vision. This time, it was that of a young mother lying on the road as a shadowy figure stood over her. From there, I built up Celia—a woman who can’t remember anything except that she absolutely must keep her son safe.
I’ve got to admit, I had a bit of fun researching the effects of trauma-induced memory loss. (Not in a macabre way! The science and psychology is very interesting!) I even got to interview someone who experienced it. And of course, I’m also excited to bring you the very dreamy first responder himself—Remo. I write a lot of police heroes, but it was great to step outside that box and bring to life this lovely EMT. I hope you enjoy their journey as much as I did!
Happy reading,
Melinda
To all the real-life first responders fighting the good fight.
Contents
Note to Readers
The buzz came first. A hundred—no, a thousand—bees, circling her head and making it vibrate with an indescribable pain. Next came the stinging. Over and over, the sharp points hitting her face, each one worse than the last.
If she could’ve made a noise, it would’ve been a whimper.
She tried to turn her head, to steer it away from the angry swarm. But she was clamped down. Something viselike held her in place, stopping her from even the slightest movement. All she could do was blink, and even that yielded little more than a blurred picture overhead. She wasn’t even sure what it was she could see above her. The night sky, maybe? A dark swirl of clouds, blocking out every star and barely letting through the moonlight?
Typical Vancouver.
The
