“Yeah, we’re actually heading down to her shop here in about an hour or so. You want to come with us? Or do you need something?” I ask, concerned. Cam and I recovered from our alcohol-induced coma pretty quickly. Maybe Shayna had more than we did.
“No. I’m fine. I’ll be home. I was just checking.”
“Oooookay. Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us. You okay?”
“Yes. Everything will be fine. It will be fine,” she repeats herself.
“Shayna, baby, why don’t you lie down and take a nap. You don’t sound like you feel too well. Call me when you wake up and we’ll see if you’re feeling better. Maybe we can grab some dinner. Sound like a plan?” My poor friend. I know how she’s feeling, and I do not envy her. Wine is all fun and games until you have to wake up the next morning.
“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. Lie down, I mean. We’ll see about dinner. I have to go,” she says abruptly before hanging up the phone.
I’m staring down at my phone, debating what to do, when Cam walks back into my room and plops down next to me on the bed.
“What was that all about?” she asks.
“Shayna. She sounds worse than we did this morning. I told her to take a nap and call me when she woke up. I think I’ll just hang around here until I hear from her. Maybe we’ll meet you for dinner when you finish up at the shop?”
“Yeah, that works.” Cam shrugs. “I shouldn’t be but a few hours, so that will be perfect timing. Don’t you have plans with Rhett tonight?”
“Nah. He’s at the station today, so he won’t be over until he gets off. It will be around nine or so before he shows up here.”
“Alrighty then, buying ear plugs on my way home—check.” She nods her head and makes a pretend list on her hand.
“Oh, shut it! We are so not that bad!”
“Oh yes. You are. And I’m happy for you, so it’s all good. Although I’m wondering how much longer I’m going to need earplugs. As often as Rhett is around, I’m starting to wonder why he doesn’t just move you into his place.”
“He wants to. I’m just stalling,” I confess.
Her eyes bulge out of her head. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because I moved down here with you, and I’m not just going to jump out of our lease and leave you high and dry. Puh-lease. You know me better than that. Plus, I like living with you. And I’d miss you if I couldn’t steal your clothes.”
She laughs and rolls her eyes at me. “Give me a break. We can break the lease, chica. I can move into the studio. There’s plenty of room. If Rhett is what you want, then don’t hold back on my account. Go be with the man.”
“We’ll see. I haven’t made any decisions yet.”
“Whatever, hooker. If it were my choice between a hot guy and a big empty bed, I know what I’d choose. Every time.” She smirks and slaps my thigh before standing up. “I’m going to head out so I’ll be done in time for dinner. Call me later?”
“Sure thing. Have fun.” Cam waves before darting out the door. I barely hear the front door open and shut before my eyes get heavy. A nap sounds like a great way to pass the time before Shayna calls.
I wake up to the sound of shrill beeping. I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is, it needs to stop. Pronto. I lie in bed, stretching and yawning one good time before getting up. I almost trip over my blankets when I stand up. At some point while I slept, I threw them off of me. I can understand why. It feels like it’s a million degrees in this room. I just pray that our heating and air unit hasn’t broken.
I grab for the doorknob on my bedroom door and notice smoke coming from underneath my door. The smoke and the warm doorknob don’t register in my sleep-fogged brain. It isn’t until I walk out into a smoke-filled hallway and see the flames filling our living room, dining room, and kitchen areas that I realize what’s happening. I stand there, stock-still for a moment, eyes wide, just trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do. Then I realize that the flames are coming from our shared wall with Shayna. It’s her condo that’s up in flames… It’s just leaked over to ours.
Holy shit.
“SHAYNA!” I yell, and run to the opening of the hallway, unable to go any farther. I try to figure out the best way into the living room and out of the front door. The windows in the bedroom are not an option, because they have crossbars on the outside. My heart rate has kicked up into high gear. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, this is so not the time for a panic attack. I have got to get myself under control, and I don’t have the luxury of spending a whole lot of time talking myself down. I brace myself against the wall, fighting the burn in my lungs from the amount of smoke I’m taking in with each breath.
God, please just get me out of here. Please.
I take one more deep breath and try to map out the best plan through the smoke and flames. My mind is trying to do too many things at once. I’m so worried about Shayna. My house is up in blazes, true, but hers looks worse. I can’t see past the wall of smoke clouding my view.
I decide to make a break for it. That’s my only option at this point. I refuse to sit here and choke to death on smoke—or worse, get burned to death. I block those thoughts out as much as possible and round the corner, staying as close to the wall as possible, since it’s the wall on the other side of the house that’s basically been destroyed by the fire. Although, at this point, they’re creeping along the ceiling as well.
Shit.
I make it about five steps into the living room before I hear an explosion that rocks me to my core, literally. I can feel the percussions in my stomach. I scream so loudly, but it’s lost in the sound of the fire. There is a gaping hole in our ceiling where the opening to our attic used to be.
I can hear the groaning of the boards, and I try to get out of the house as fast as possible, but that doesn’t work. Fast is never quite fast enough. I hear the crack and the breaking of the beams, so I turn to see what’s happening. A large rafter comes swinging from the hole in the ceiling. I try as quickly as I can to duck, but it’s no use. I feel the beam crash against the side of my head, knocking me off my feet, and I fall into something sharp.
I know I need to get up, and I keep telling my body to do it, but I just can’t seem to find the strength. I try to roll over so that I can crawl out of the house, but it’s no use. My body hurts so badly and my head is pounding. I try to close my eyes to gather up as much strength as I can, but it doesn’t help.
Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake.
I hear the voice chanting in my head. There’s nothing I can do, though.
“I can’t,” I whisper. My eyes close for the final time, and I feel my body become dead weight.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rhett
Engine 24 respond. Condominium fire. 1325 Cleary Road. Engine 24 respond.
My world feels like it just stopped. My ears are ringing and my heart is racing as I repeat the address in my head. I feel air gush past me as my brothers rush to suit up, but I’m frozen in place, unable to move. I’ve never been in a position where fear was this strong. I feel it in every inch of my being. It’s blinding, it’s crippling, I can feel it permeating off me, and I’m helpless to stop it.
“Rhett, we gotta go now,” Luke yells, pulling me toward the truck and out of my thoughts. “Let’s get you suited, or you can choose to sit this out, but either way—I mean, if she is inside, we have to get there to save her,” he says, acknowledging my worst fear.
As I rush to suit up, I do something completely out of the ordinary: I pray. I pray long and I pray hard, to a God that I hope hears my pleas.
She has to be okay.
Pulling up to the apartments that I’m all too familiar with, I see the red and orange hues coming from the building and black smoke polluting the air all around. Jumping from the truck, I quickly do a perimeter check to see if I can locate M, but I come up empty-handed. I have to get inside now. Running as fast as my feet will carry me, I take off to th
e inferno in front of my face, but I’m yanked backwards with such force I almost fall to the ground.
“What the fuck?” I scream as loud as my voice will go.
“Rhett, you can’t go up, son. It’s too personal; you’ll get yourself killed,” Chief says as he tightens his grip on my arm.
“Don’t you see? I don’t fucking care about dying. I care about getting Emma the fuck out of there, if she’s in there.”
“These boys would risk their own lives for her, and you have to trust them to do that, Rhett.”
Time is standing still as I watch them going in and going up, working as fast as they can to search the apartments before it’s too late—before the whole places buckles and crumbles to the ground.
“R—Rhett. Rheeetttttt,” I hear someone screeching my name, sounding just as frantic as I feel.
Looking to my left, I she Shayna covered in black soot and sobbing while screaming a bunch of shit I can’t understand.
“Y—you have to save her. Please go save her. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Shayna, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“I called Cam to tell her about the fire and to make sure she and Emma were okay. Cam said she left Emma at home asleep because she f-felt bad. If I had known she was here. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” She wails loudly and hits the ground. I look at Chief, who’s at her side, probably trying to decipher her crazy talk, and I use that to my advantage. I charge off into the direction of the fire, putting my headgear on while in transit. I vaguely hear the chief yelling at me but I never falter. I will find her or I’ll die trying. The place is smoldering, smoke and flames everywhere making it impossible to see your hand in front of you.
“Emma, call out.”
I hear the creaking of the floorboards beneath my feet and the howling of the vicious flames all around as I scavenge every nook and cranny, trying to find her.
“I’m calling it, guys. Everybody out of there, now! That’s an order, the whole place is going to give soon,” Chief says over the radio, but I don’t listen. I keep going. Never giving up hope.
“Emma, call out.”
Pushing myself forward, my foot hits something. Looking down, I see my M covered in ash, lying there lifeless. I immediately scoop her up and put my breathing mask on her face so I can make my way out with her. She’s completely out of it, her arms are limp, and I see blood on her head and stomach. I feel sick as my mind races through a million different scenarios, but I’m also numb. I can’t explain the feeling stirring in me right now.
Please be okay, please be okay.
Smoke is filling my lungs with each intake of air. My lungs are on fire and my eyes aren’t even in working order now, but I know the doors are close, so I push with everything I have—all of my energy, all of my fight, all of my love. I hear everyone outside and then I feel the cold air hit my face, and that’s when I drop. I have nothing left. I feel hands on me in an instant. I feel them peeling Emma off of me and out of my arms. I try to yell at them, to beg them to save her, but my lungs protest and my voice is lost. I drift off.
“M&M, you can’t hide from me. You can’t ever hide from me. I’ll always find you.” I laugh as I see her feet underneath the curtain.
“Rhett, why do you always find me?” She huffs in frustration, throwing back the curtain.
“M, that’s what I do. I love you; I’ll always find you, even when you think I can’t.
I hear people talking and I hear the beeping of machines.
“Clear,” the paramedic yells, and the machine shocks her chest, making her back arch off the table.
“Turning it up. Clear,” I hear again as I watch in horror, her back arching once more.
“We have a pulse. Let’s move, now!”
I try to roll off of my gurney, but Luke pushes me back down, shaking his head.
“They’ve got her now. She’s in good hands. Let’s get you strong so we can get you to her, okay?”
I nod my head as if I understand, but I really don’t. I need to make sure she’s okay now. I can’t wait, but I have no choice, so I let them fill my lungs with clean air and flush my eyes with saline and I sit, doing nothing but drowning in my own sorrow.
It’s been a week since the horrible fire that almost killed the one thing that’s most precious to me. In that week’s time, I have learned to never take anything for granted. She’s had a few surgeries and was unconscious for a few days when things were touch and go, but she’s no longer in the ICU. They tell me that’s a good thing, but I still worry.
Turns out Shayna was the one causing the fires in our little town. She gave a full confession after she almost killed Emma. She’s still convinced that she and Micah can “get through this” and be together when she gets out of the mental ward or prison, wherever they choose to send her crazy ass. The reason Emma was knocked out was due to the water heater that had exploded. There’s a strong possibility she would have made it out had it not been for that, but as always, M tells me not to dwell on the ‘what-ifs’ and to just be thankful we’re both alive and okay. I agree with her, but it doesn’t stop me from replaying that day over and over in my head. I guess that’s something that’ll take time as well.
“How’s my favorite girl?” I say as I open the door to her room.
“Eh, I’m still sore everywhere, same as when you called thirty minutes ago. Rhett, I’m okay. Please stop worrying yourself to death,” she says on a pained whisper.
“Just to warn you, the boys will be here after their shift tonight, so if you want rest, you’d better get it now.”
“Crawl up in bed with me, McCoy. You could use some rest too.”
“What if I hurt you, M? I can’t do that to you.”
“Rhett McCoy! My body is the least of my concerns right now. I need my big handsome firefighter to cuddle me while I sleep and drool all over his shirt. The cut on my stomach is not that bad, just superficial—you heard the doc—and the burns are on my right side, so there’s no reason you can’t sleep on my left,” she says, giving me the evil eye.
Just then, my phone starts ringing, and I look down at the caller ID and smile. Walking out to the hall, I look back and whisper, “Saved by the bell,” and hear her faint chuckle.
“Hello. Are y’all here yet?” I say impatiently. “She’s begging me to take a nap with her, and a man can only argue with that woman for so long.”
“You do realize that we had to take a flight and about another hundred or so cabs in the last few days, right? We’ll be right up. Emma doesn’t know, does she?”
“Well, she knows you and Meems are coming back today or tomorrow, but she has no clue about the surprise.”
“Good. Keep it that way. Just wait outside for us.”
I smile when I see them walking down the hall and wave at them. Meems quickly pulls me into a hug and kisses my cheek.
“Let’s go surprise our girl, Rhett.”
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s do it.”
I open the door and let her parents walk in. I quickly follow, but it’s what’s behind me that makes M’s face light up.
“Linda.”
Emma Grace
I feel as if the world has just twisted on its axis. I never thought I would see the woman that was very much my saving grace. I inhale deeply as I feel the familiar burn in my eyes before the tears start flowing. All the memories of her holding me at night while I cried for my mother. Linda helped me heal, she taught me that it was okay to be afraid and it was okay to cry and mourn my mom. She was my rock, as was Rhett.
She’s instantly at my bed, wrapping her arms around me. Not tightly but just enough for me to know that she’s very real. For a second I just inhale and relax at the warmth of her skin. She’s always had the ability to make me feel safe, even when I felt anything but safe. Wrapping my arms around her, I just hold her as we both cry a billion tears. Tears of love and loss, pain and sorrow. Tears of happiness that we’ve found each
other again. Tears that speak much more volumes than any words ever could.
Linda rises up and cradles my face in her hands and then places a kiss on my forehead.
“My darling girl. All these years and here you are. I’ve missed you so much. The day I lost you, I lost a piece of myself. I tried to find you, Emma. I need you to know that I never gave up. It takes so much money to find a lost loved one. So much money that I just didn’t have. Do you forgive me, Emma? I need to know that you do.”
“Linda, there’s nothing to forgive. I never once thought you had abandoned me. I have always loved you, and I still do. I’m just so glad you found me.”
“It wasn’t me, Emma,” she says, glancing at Rhett. “It was him.”
Turning her head to Meems and Pops, she smiles. “And them. They got my address and came to my door just to bring me here today. I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t think I could have taken any bad news, especially after not getting a chance to tell you how much you mean to me.”
“I love you, Linda.”
“I love you too, my sweet girl.”
We spend hours and hours just talking and laughing. Bonding as one single unit. It feels great. Linda tells me all about her kids and her grandkids. She shows me pictures and we just catch up on everything that has happened in our lives over the years. When she has to leave I’m not sad, I feel as if I am about to burst with joy. Happiness like I’ve never felt before. We have each other’s numbers and I know this is just the beginning. I’ll be seeing a lot more of Linda and her sweet family too. I close my eyes and let sleep come to take me away with a huge content smile on my face.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Emma Grace
“Cam! I’m here!” I yell as the door to her studio closes.
“In the kitchen!” she hollers back at me.
Cam has been staying at her studio since the fire destroyed our condo. It’s been almost a month since the fire, and adjusting to life is still difficult sometimes. Not only was our home destroyed, but our friendship with Shayna was too. When they told me what happened, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she was capable of something like that—starting all of those fires and injuring people, all for the sake of getting a guy to pay attention to her. She was arrested for the crimes and put through a psych evaluation. She was diagnosed with a personality disorder that made it hard for her to differentiate fantasy from reality. The thing is, I find myself feeling sorry for her more than anything else—even after everything she put us through.
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