"I do," he said, squeezing it. His first instinct was to tell her he was just doing his job or something like that, but that made it sound so impersonal, like she wasn't important. She was giving him the gift of her thanks and he wasn't about to turn it away. Both for his sake and for hers. He wanted to tell her that he was glad he got there in time but was afraid that would conjure up all the thoughts of 'what if he hadn't?' and neither of them wanted that.

So he settled for squeezing her hand back.