Were his leg not injured, he would walk the distance to her home without hesitation and come back for his bike and the equipment later. As it stands however, he has to rely on the motorcycle for the trip, and that means Sadie has to recover enough to tolerate it. He can be patient for that. Simply sit and watch…

Then Walter encourages him to move closer, and Sadie doubles it in her coaxing with a hand freed to reach towards him. Carefully separating his hands from the opposite sleeves, he reaches back to take her hand in his icy grasp loosely and weakly protests, “I’ll have to get back up in a few minutes...” So as to fetch his phone to call Dr. Tilly and deal further with what he Echoed in the river.

All it takes is one more word for him to relent. With a heavier exhale, he looks around the area one more time, then rolls off the blanket only enough to lift the edge it and slide partway under the covering with Sadie and Walter. The warmth beneath is an immense relief.