by Tess Oliver
She shrugged shyly. "Nah, that's all right. Guess I was just making conversation. I'm not all that good of a dancer." She tossed back the rest of her wine.
"Hey, let me get you a refill."
She placed her hand on my arm. "It's all right, Jack. I know you're not really into this and that's fine. I won't take up any more of your time." She was being very polite, and I felt like a total heel.
"Sorry, it's not you."
She laughed dryly.
"No really, it's not. I've recently broken up with someone."
She nodded. "Say no more. I think I'll just head over to the bar and get my own drink. Nice talking to you, and I'm sorry about your breakup."
Kaos's big foot shot across to kick my boot. His new friend had nearly wrapped herself around him already. He shot me a glower and I shrugged.
"You know what," I told him. "I'm going to take off. Let Kingston know if you see him." I surveyed the room. "I think he's already in the back seat of a car anyhow. See you later."
I made a quick exit and was relieved to get outside into the crisp night air. Kingston had coaxed me out for the night, then abandoned me. I didn't feel too guilty about dashing out. My phone rang on the way to the jeep. I pulled it out as I climbed inside. My physical reaction was instant when I saw the name Ginger on my screen. I'd nearly forgotten about the silly nicknames we'd assigned each other to keep our relationship secret. A lot of good that did. All it took was a hankering for one of Moonpie's grand slam breakfasts, and the whole thing was out in the open like a zit on the forehead before prom.
"Hey," I said casually, even though I felt anything but.
"So, I'm working in ER tonight, and we just took a light bulb out of a guy's ass. Don't ask me what kind of fetish that has to do with because he insisted he thought he could make electricity with his gas."
We both laughed.
"Guess there's no shortage of crazy stories when you're working in the ER," I said.
"It does keep the job interesting." She grew quiet. "I just needed to tell someone because it was so ridiculous, and I scrolled through my phone and thought you're the only person I wanted to talk to. And not just because I knew you'd appreciate a good light bulb in the ass story but because—" she fell silent and her tone had softened, saddened.
"I miss talking to you, Layla," I said to fill the void.
"I miss talking to you," she said with a soft sigh, a sound I'd heard when holding her in my arms, and a sound that, even now, played the strings of my heart like a skilled violinist. "You know after Adam died, I lost a friend and a confidante. Even with his flaws, and there were plenty, if I was having a bad day, he listened. He was a good listener. It took me months to lose the urge to call him from work when something profound or weird or sad had happened. I finally got past that instinctual impulse to call him. I had no choice except to quash the urge permanently. Even if at times, I long to talk to him, I can't. Then I meet someone who I truly enjoy talking to, someone who listens, someone who gets my humor, and once again, I have to quash the urge to call him. As you might have guessed that urge won out tonight."
"Layla, I know we kind of both agreed that friendship, at this point, when our feelings for each other are still raw and strong, would only make things harder. But anytime you need to talk to me, I hope you call."
"Thanks, Jack. I'm glad." The hospital sounds once again intruded on our conversation. Her job was high energy, intense, like mine, which was another reason we understood each other so well. I inadvertently glanced in my rearview mirror and spotted Helix leaving the bar . . . alone. I felt slightly guilty for thinking he might be there to meet a woman with a wife, pregnant apparently, at home.
His hands were in his pockets as he walked blithely along toward his lifted truck. There he was—the guy who had made it his mission to strip away my happiness with one terrible rip of the bandage.
"Hey, how have things been, you know, online and with haters?" I asked.
"Things quieted down quickly and, get this, Adam's mom called me. I thought, oh boy, am I going to hear an earful. Instead, she was really supportive. She said they didn't expect me to grieve forever and that I was still young and needed to move on when I felt it was the right time."
"Wow, that's nice and also what anyone should be telling a young widow."
She made another soft sound, a sigh of sorts. "You're wise beyond your years, Jack Devlin."
"I wish."
Helix had climbed into his truck. The giant headlights lit up the dark night as if someone had just brought the sun back from the other hemisphere.
"I've got to get back. My break is over. Thank you for indulging me these past few minutes. I really needed it."
I wanted to keep her on the phone for the whole fucking night. "Anytime," I said quietly. There were a million other things I wanted to tell her, but they all stuck in my throat.
"Bye," she said and then she was gone.
I put down the phone and found myself pulling out in front of Helix and his monster truck. He knew my jeep. I briefly envisioned him chasing me down the highway with his giant Chevy.
His headlights, like the truck itself were overblown, one of those vehicles that was more suited to a rich teenager than a guy on his second marriage and heading around the corner to thirty. I had to flick up my rearview mirror to not be blinded by his headlights.
The bar was off a dirt road which connected to a twisting two-lane highway that hugged the mountainside. Sometimes it got so narrow, only one car could pass, but it was rarely filled with traffic until the ski resorts opened up. We were far from that. The autumn had been dry enough to assure us that our jobs were secure. The brush and trees on the slopes were thirsty and brittle.
Helix, it seemed, was not going to chase or tail me on the wavy road. It would have been too nuts even for him. Besides, my jeep was far more agile than his oversized, lifted to the sky truck. It only took a few dark curves before we caught up to another car, a small sedan that was going slower than necessary. The driver, with one passenger, a young person, it seemed from the silhouettes through the back window, was having a hard time following the curves of the road. Admittedly, the lines had mostly been ground off. Unless you'd traveled the road a lot, especially in daylight, it would be a challenging drive. Either that or the person was drunk, and that shed a whole new light on the situation. The driver overcorrected more than once. I hadn't spoken much to Helix the entire week, but I needed another opinion before I called highway patrol. Unfortunately, Helix's opinion was the only one available.
I picked up the phone and scrolled through the contacts on my Bluetooth screen. Helix answered. "Yeah, I see them," he said without me having to ask.
"Thought they were just nervous about the road at first, but I'm thinking I phone it in."
"Probably a good idea," he answered. I disconnected the call. Joint decision making or not, I didn't feel the traditional goodbye was necessary.
I scrolled through contacts to emergency. Just as my finger hovered over the number, the driver overcompensated, then overturned the opposite direction. The car disappeared over the embankment. My finger landed on the screen.
"What's your emergency?"
"I'm on highway 34 just about three miles north of Tucker's Village. A car just went over the embankment."
30
I pulled over. Helix's headlights were blinding as he yanked up behind me. He threw the truck in reverse and turned the nose toward the embankment. Now those obnoxious high beams came in handy, lighting up the entire wilderness. We both jumped out of our vehicles and raced toward the crash site. We were no longer two men at odds about something personal, we were two members of the same crew.
The small sedan was upside down. Its motor was still running and headlights shot two strong beams of light ahead of it. Helix's headlights illuminated the dark cab of the car. It was smashed in, but the steel frame of the car had kept it from collapsing completely. There was little movement inside.
It was terrain that any untrained passerby could not have traversed easily, no clear footpath, steep and plenty of loose debris between chunks of granite. But Helix and I had trekked down paths like it dozens of times. We both trotted down it like mountain goats, me just ahead of Helix.
"I see smoke," Helix said.
I looked in the direction his hand was pointing, smoke and the last thing anyone wanted to see beneath an overturned car, glowing embers.
"The car must have struck some of this granite on the way down causing sparks. We need to get them free and far from the vehicle," I said.
Helix broke off from the same path I was on. "I see some cleared dirt behind the car. I'm going to see if I can douse those embers before they take off."
"Right. I'm going to get the passenger out first. Looked like a kid from the silhouette. I'd say ETA on emergency crews is still a good ten minutes out." I reached the passenger side while Helix used a rock to dig up loose soil. He tossed it onto the embers that were now starting to grow into actual flames. There was enough dry fuel on the hillside to start a wildfire and, more importantly, engulf the car.
I got down on my knees and peered into the cab. I could see the passenger, a boy maybe nine or ten, hanging upside down still strapped to his seat. His terrified face turned toward the window.
"It's all right. We're gonna get you out of there." The top of the door was jammed a few inches into the ground. I started digging to free it. "Helix, how's that going? We need to get them out of here. Think I'm going to need your help."
Helix's heavy, urgent footsteps plodded the ground behind me. "It's no use without a shovel. Let's get them out of here before this car goes up in flames." Up above on the road, voices and more headlights indicated a few more drivers had stopped to see what was happening.
"Need help?" a man called down.
"We've got it. Terrain is too steep. Just watch for the ambulances," I called back. I kept digging furiously, trying to get the door clear and free. Helix pulled on the handle as hard as he could and we managed to open it wide enough for me to squeeze inside. "Work on the driver," I said. "I've got the boy."
"Hey," I said quietly. "I'm Jack, what's your name?"
He sniffled, then weakly said Evan.
"Nice to meet you, Evan. I see your arms are moving. How about your legs?"
He shuffled his feet around and nodded.
"Anything hurt real bad right now?"
"Is my mom all right?" he cried. "Mom?"
I looked through the upside down cab and past the deployed air bags. Helix was knelt down next to the door. He was frantically digging it out.
I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know that the bright flash of light, reflecting off the broken front windshield was a flare up. The flames and embers were moving to the heavier brush. Up above people were yelling, 'watch out, fire!' It was time to get the kid free. He seemed to be moving all right, and I couldn't see any major wound.
"All right, Evan, I'm just going to squeeze past you and unlatch the seat belt. I'll catch ya, so don't worry."
"Get my mom," he sobbed.
"We're getting her too." It wasn't easy but I managed to reach around in the dark and find the seatbelt. I wrapped one arm around Evan. "Here we go, buddy." I clicked the belt and he slipped down into my grasp. Evan was sobbing by the time I shimmied out of the car with him in my arms.
Helix was still frantically trying to open the driver's door. "It's jammed tight from the crash,” he said through gritted teeth as he pulled at the handle.
Fortunately, Evan was light. I pushed to standing with him in my arms. Flames had halfway surrounded the car, lapping at the twisted metal while at the same time dancing back into the dry brush. In the distance, sirens wailed, but they were still too far off.
"I'm going to get the boy clear of any flames and dash right back," I told Helix. He was still trying to dig the door free.
I climbed the steep terrain and got within ten feet of the people standing on the roadside, watching and hoping they could help. Two men made the climb down to meet me.
"We're still trying to free the driver," I said as I handed the boy off to one of the men. "This is Evan."
"Those flames are going to reach that gas tank soon," someone said unhelpfully from above.
"Mommy!" he cried as I spun around and raced back toward the car. Fire had overtaken fifty feet of the landscape and it was circled around three fourths of the car. It flicked and shot toward Helix as he worked to get the woman free.
I kicked dirt toward the flames, just as I would do on a fire mission. It did little to slow the spread, but it helped me navigate my way safely back to the car. Helix had a death grip on the handle. "It's stuck. I think it's just jammed from the impact."
I got behind him and circled my arms around his waist. I found solid ground to brace my feet against. "I'm ready."
Helix grabbed the handle. "On three. One, two, three." Our grunts shot into the night air as we both pulled with all our strength. The door opened, sending us both backward. Helix landing on top of me. Flames lapped at our arms, singeing us both good before we righted ourselves. Helix pushed into the cab of the car. "She's conscious. Limbs moving. I'm bringing her out," he called. Inside the cab I could hear the woman moaning in pain and asking about her son.
"Evan is fine," I said. "He's already free of the car and getting help."
Sobs of relief followed. "Thank God for you angels," she muttered.
Helix got the woman free. I helped him get to his feet with the woman, then I stomped a path through the flames and embers, kicking burning debris with my feet and kicking dirt onto flames wherever possible. I led him halfway up the hill and turned to take over. It was nearly straight up, like climbing stairs without the convenience of actual steps. The sirens drew near and red flashing lights lit up the night sky. Highway patrol was the first to arrive. A fire truck rolled up right after.
Helix led the way and looked back. "Doin' all right, Bronx, or do you need to hand her back? Just thirty more feet or so."
"I've got it," I said between breaths. With my next step on the steep terrain, an explosion and blinding light ripped through the air. The waves of energy pushed me to my knees. The woman groaned in pain and grabbed tightly to my neck. "Where's Evan? Where's my little boy?"
Evan had heard. "I'm here, Mom. Up here." She lifted her head weakly as Evan waved from the roadside. Someone had draped his shoulders in a blanket and handed him a water bottle. The mother was in worse shape than the boy, but it seemed they were both going to make it.
Helix had trekked back down to where the explosion had dropped me to my knees. I lost a few feet of ground in a short slide. Helix leaned down. "I'll take her from here." I could see his gaze in the light of the fire. It was genuine concern. "You all right, Bronx?"
"I'm good. How about you?" The red spots on his arm were starting to blister. I could feel my own burns heading that way too. Minor injuries considering the car had obliterated the area we just came from.
"Right as fucking rain." He lifted the woman. I pushed to my feet. I glanced back down to the car. It was engulfed in flames. The fire crew that had pulled up was just starting to work on dousing the fire before it took hold of the whole slope. A round of applause echoed off the hillside as Helix and I reached the road. He patted me on the back. "Good work, partner."
"Same to you, partner." It seemed that right then, we remembered what we were a part of, something much bigger than ourselves. Teamwork got the woman free. We'd needed each other tonight. Just like every time we faced down a wildfire.
Medics had the mom on a gurney as they took her vitals and pushed her to the ambulance to get out of the cold night air. Evan was already sitting inside the ambulance looking as shaken and scared as a kid could look. This was a night he would never forget. I walked closer to the back of the ambulance and leaned inside.
Evan smiled when he saw me. "It's you. Thanks for getting my mom out."
"I'm glad we got bo
th of you out. You take care of your mom now. She's really going to need you."
His face was streaked with tears and dirt. "Will she be all right?" he asked.
"She'll be fine. This will be quite a story to tell your friends, eh?"
He nodded and a glimmer of a smile appeared. "They're never going to believe it."
"Hey, they're bringing your mom now. They'll be taking both of you to the hospital just so you can be checked out."
"Looks like we need to check you out too," a familiar voice said from behind. I swung around.
"Hey, Pete, working the late shift, eh?" I'd trained with Pete as a paramedic, and I was usually paired with him when I worked in the off season.
"Yeah, trying to make a few extra bucks. Saw your name back on the roster for next week." He motioned at my arm. "Although, looks like you might have to hold off. That is at the very least a second degree burn."
I looked at my arm. "Yeah but you should see the other guy," I joked.
"Actually, I did. He's worse. Both of you need to head into the ER to get those burns treated. You want a lift, or are you all right to drive on your own?"
Helix joined us. "Is this guy ordering you about too?"
I looked at his arm. "Yeah but I'm thinking he's probably right. You all right to drive that big beast of a truck, that unwieldy slow as molasses monster, or do you want to ride with me?" I asked.
"Shit, you think I want to be seen in a jeep?" Helix chided. He lightly slapped the back of my head. "See you there. And good work."
"Yeah you too."
31
Pete and the other medic were already in the landing bay, unloading their patients when I parked the jeep. An area about six inches by three had turned into a painful blister. It was about half the burn that Helix suffered.
It was a Thursday night and not as crowded as it might've been on a weekend. I was thankful for that. I was beat and ready to get home to shower off the grit and smoke. My arm just needed to be cleaned and dressed. Hopefully, it would be an in and out visit.