“Why am I so tired?” Gus fell back against the pillows.
Justin repeated his theory about her body repairing itself while Perry fluffed her pillows and pulled up the blankets. Fussing over her in a very un-Perry display of affection.
Sadie whispered to Joan, “He really loves her.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah.”
Gus mumbled to Perry. He turned to the group and said, “Give her space. She wants to rest.”
The Supers backed off with words of encouragement. Joan looked like she wanted to say something, but followed Mark instead. Sadie let go of her hand, quietly saying, “Thank you, Gus.”
Gus regarded her before her eyes closed.
Perry returned to his seat as Sadie rejoined Joan. “I didn’t talk to Per about this being a Superhero thing,” Joan said. “I hope he’s not mad. We made him open the food truck, and now…”
Mark shoved his hands in his back pockets. “Is the food truck totally off the table?”
“I don’t see how we could do both.”
“Yeah. For sure.” A murky gray clouded his eyes for a brief moment. Aww, poor Markie. He’d really blossomed at Hot and Cold.
Joanie’s worry lines deepened across her forehead. Before she spiraled out with her fears, Sadie rubbed her back. “Perry’s gonna be busy helping me find another café location. And taking care of Gus.”
“I’m glad she’s getting better,” Kade said.
Zee planted their hands on their hips. “Should we get back to discussing Spark and Ice’s future?”
“Look, I know we have a long way to go to gain the public’s trust,” Joan said. “Especially me. Fire is so destructive.”
“It’s efficient,” Darlene said.
Joan blinked, clearly surprised by that. “It is?”
“I’ve found it works well in short bursts. Efficient and effective.”
“O…kay.” She shared aWhat the hell?look with Mark. “We’ll do what we have to do. Go to Superhero training or whatever. If that’s a thing.”
“We have media training.” Kade rolled his eyes.
“Regimented workout programs,” Darlene said.
“We love to work out,” Mark said. Did he shift his eyes toward Zee?
“Mandatory weekly meetings,” Otis said.
Sadie, Joan and Mark snorted. “We’re used to meetings,” Joan chuckled. “That’s Perry’s favorite thing.”
“We could do with less meetings, more doing.” Mark glanced over at Gus. “She was right about sitting around too much. We like to act.”
“It would be probationary,” Otis said. “You wouldn’t be granted full access to anything. You would need supervision.”
The twins nodded. Sadie wanted to wrap her arms around Joan and cheer.
Someone cleared their throat. Ward. The sidekick had been hanging out by the door. Panic practically vibrated off of him. “Will you be taking a formal vote? Are you—” He gulped. “—adding two more Superheroes to the roster?”
“Ward, buddy,” Mark said. “We don’t need a sidekick. We’ve done just fine without any help.”
Ward’s wide eyes said he wanted to believe that, but there was much more to the equation on this side of the Hero/Villain conflict.
