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Alex shrugged. “I guess when you put it like that. I’ve never really considered it. I suppose over the years I’ve been introduced to things that I liked, and I just added them to my repertoire.”

“Maybe we can look into extending that then.”

Alex snorted. “Well, why not?”

Chapter Forty-One

Francine was still asleep, and Alex was nodding off, but not quite asleep. Morgan was reading her book. They’d hit pockets of traffic, and the journey was taking much longer than it should have, especially after a diversion had them miles off track.

Morgan was feeling hungry. Her tummy rumbled, and she wondered if they might stop somewhere to get something to eat. Just as she was about to ask Mike about it, the car lurched to the left and the brakes forced her forward. The seatbelt pressed against her chest as it did its job and stopped her from flying across the seats and landing on top of Francine.

All she heard was Alex scream, “No!”

“What the hell?” Francine shouted, waking from her peaceful sleep in an instant.

In that one moment, all hell broke loose as Francine stressed and Alex stared wide-eyed into nowhere. Twisting in her seat, Morgan reached for Alex’s hand, but there was no response. She was breathing rapidly, her chest heaving and mouth gulping for air.

“Alex, it’s okay. Can you hear me?” Morgan kept calm, even though she was worried herself. The window between Mike and themselves opened.

“There’s been an accident in front. Everything’s come to a stand-still,” he said, his voice a little shaky at the obvious near miss.

Morgan could hear Mike and Francine discussing the near miss and what to do next, but her concern was on Alex. Reaching for her bag, she opened it quickly, unbuckled her seatbelt and, spreading Alex’s legs apart, got down onto her knees into the space right in front of Alex.

“Alex, look at me,” she said firmly, trying to get any response from her.

“What’s wrong with her? This isn’t normal.” Francine now turned her attention on them.

“She’s disassociating,” Morgan answered calmly. She began to untie Alex’s shoes and pull them from her feet, her socks following.

“What are you doing?” Francine looked at her, horrified. “Help her.”

“I am helping her. She needs to be grounded, to feel the real world around her. Talk to her and pass me a glass of ice.”

Looking confused but doing as she was asked, Francine filled a glass and passed it across.

“Alex, Alex, come on pal, you gotta snap out of it. You’re worrying me,” Francine was saying as Morgan pressed Alex’s feet to the ground and rubbed the tops of them vigorously.

“Alex, you’re safe. I need you to focus on the sounds. Hear my voice, listen to Francine. You’re not there, you’re not on that coach.”

“You think she’s on the bus?” Francine stared at her.

“She’s not here, so yes, it’s possible she’s been triggered into a flashback with that jolt,” Morgan answered, remembering the story from Alex’s own lips. She picked out a piece of ice and slowly rubbed it against Alex’s lips, around her face. “You feel that? Just breathe, in and out.”

It took a moment, and like a switch had flicked, Alex’s eyes focused and she was back in the car. At least somewhat; she was still dazed and not with it, but she was going to be okay.

“Hey, it's okay. You’re okay.” Morgan kept repeating the mantra, until finally, Alex showed signs of coming back fully.

Her voice shaking, Alex asked, “What…happened?”

“An accident, the car in front hit the one in front of that, everything came to a quick stop and Mike pulled the car out of the lane to avoid it all. That’s why we swerved,” Francine explained, grateful for Mike’s quick thinking, because nobody could imagine the impact being hit would have caused.

Morgan opened her bag again and pulled out her stethoscope and a paper bag. She handed it to Alex. “Breathe into this.”

“A paper bag?” Francine exclaimed. “That’s all you got?”

Ignoring her, Morgan put the stethoscope into her ears and opened the buttons that covered Alex’s chest. The pianist hissed as the cold steel touched her skin.

A good sign, Morgan hoped.