Chapter Text
“Thanks for coming with me,” Mel King said as she stepped outside the library, into the freezing evening air. She squinted in the waning light and put a hand over her eyes to look up at Frank Langdon, balancing a small stack of books against herself with the other. “You didn’t have to. I’m sure you want to get home.”
“It’s like twenty minutes out of my day to save you from multiple trips, it’s fine.” Langdon pointed across the parking lot. “Over there.”
Across the parking lot, a group of teens took turns filming each other kicking plastic bottles in the air. On the other side, a middle aged man had a toolset set out haphazardly around him on the ground as he worked on a tire on his truck. Toward the street, a woman pushed a double stroller with her face buried in her phone. Mel knew some of the teens from previous library hauls. They were good kids.
Langdon unlocked his car and pulled open the trunk, then heaved a small stack of books onto the back. Mel dropped her pile next to them and stepped back to double check her list, even though she’d just done it inside the library. She’d gotten everything, right? Yes. And he was right, it would save her time by not having to go back and forth from the library multiple times over the span of a few days. Mel just didn’t think that her time was something he cared about. He had his own things to worry about. But when she’d mentioned her car was in the shop and she was eager to get her library holds, he offered without hesitation.
“Anything else?” he asked as he closed the trunk and leaned against it. “You need anything from the store?”
Mel tucked back her chin and laughed. “No, I’m okay.”
“I’m just saying, you have me at your disposal,” he said, crossing his arms. “What else do you need?”
“Nothing,” Mel said, trying not to look at the way his biceps popped in the sun. Like every other time in the history of Frank Langdon crossing his arms in front of her, she failed. She tried to make it less obvious by looking at them and then rolling her eyes, scanning the parking lot.
“Okay, if you insist. I’m just saying you can use m-” Langdon was interrupted by a loud, thunderous BANG followed by metal scraping against concrete and someone screaming. He covered Mel, pressing her against the car and tucking her head beneath his arms.
Mel’s heart caught in her throat at him pressed against her, the warm, solid presence and the screaming. Wait, the screaming wasn’t just in her head. She pushed her head out from behind her friend’s body to identify the source. Across the parking lot, the man who’d been working on his truck and changing out the tire was on the ground, blood spilling from his leg. Mel slipped out from Langdon and sprinted toward the man, dropping to her knees when she reached him. Langdon was just a few steps behind her, looking around at the group of people around them.
“You, call 9-1-1,” he pointed to the oldest looking teenager. “Now.”
“Arterial bleed,” Mel said as she grabbed a rag from the ground and pressed down on the man’s leg with both hands. “Sir, did you hit your head?”
The man groaned, but none of the words coming from his mouth were intelligible.
“Ambulance is on the way.”
“Not enough pressure.”
“Tourniquet. I don’t see–”
“Here.” Mel sank her teeth into the sleeve of her button down and ripped off a thick strip of the fabric part of the way. Langdon tore the rest and knelt next to her, passing her the fabric and reaching for a screwdriver behind him.
“Bleeding’s stopped. Need to secure it.” Mel held out her hand, waiting for him to place something in it.
Langdon’s hand groped around the pile of tools for something, and then Mel felt his hand on her back. He pulled his hand from around her and stretched the pale hair tie from her braid around the windlass, sticking it in place. Mel removed her hands, covered in the stranger’s blood, and stopped herself from pumping her arm. She looked across the man at Langdon, who was already watching her with his mouth just slightly parted in that way he always did. Mel made a little “woo” noise and continued to assess the man to find out what else they’d need to tell the EMTs when they arrived.
After the ambulance arrived and carted the man away, Mel tucked her hands together. She’d completely forgotten why she was in the parking lot in the first place. Right. The library.
“So like I was saying,” Langdon said, glossing over what’d just happened. “You can use me as your personal chauffeur for the evening.”
“I think Giant Eagle might call the police if I go in covered in blood,” Mel said.
“No, that’s normal for them. I’ll take you home,” Langdon said. “Let’s go before someone else goes down.”
Mel followed him to his Rav4, grateful for a ride in the freezing evening. It really was nice of Dr. Langdon to keep offering to drive her places. She just wished that one time, she had somewhere interesting to go. Her life was a cycle of work-Becca-sleep that didn’t allow for much deviation. Maybe something interesting would happen sometime soon. Until then, she would enjoy the ride with the person next to her.