“Me?” A strange panic welled up inside him, but he hid it. Don’t be worried, he told himself. He forced a laugh. “Of course not. This is just a checkup.” He reached for her hand. It felt colder than usual.
She nodded and settled into her seat. After a minute she checked the time on her phone. “We’re early. My appointment got moved back an hour.”
“Well then… I have an idea.” He turned at the next light and headed to Benson’s Bakery on Main Street. Oldest Indianapolis creamery around, and Annalee’s favorite.
A smile lifted her lips. “You’re not taking me for—”
“An iced vanilla latte?” He kept one hand on the wheel, his eyes on the road. “Yes, Annalee, I am. After what happened last time… I think it’s only right.”
She laughed and the sound was music in the air. That, combined with the wind in the trees and the bright blue sky, made Tommy relax. Everything was going to be fine. Annalee would receive her mono diagnosis, get better and move on with life.
“By the way.” Annalee shifted in her seat and stared at him. “I forgive you for last time.”
“Good.” He grinned at her. “I told you I’d make it up to you.” The store was just ahead. This was good. Her favorite coffee and funny stories. Everything was going to be fine.
Annalee’s eyes danced. “I mean… what was your excuse again? Lack of balance?”
“Like I said… I was reaching for your door.” He raised his brow. “Trying to be a gentleman.”
“I’m just teasing.” Her laughter remained. “It was an accident.”
“But who does that?” Tommy parked in the lot adjacent to Benson’s. “I reach for your door and hit your iced latte. Straight into your face.”
“It was fun explaining it to my parents.” She took a deep breath. “I laugh every time I think about it.”
As he stepped out of the Jeep, Tommy did an exaggerated bow. He eased her into his arms and his eyes held hers for a long beat. “Happy to keep you entertained.”
For a moment, all he wanted was to kiss her. But if she had mono, he’d better not. They’d been refraining just in case. He worked his hand through her silky hair, his voice a whisper. “Just don’t replace me, okay.”
Annalee stifled a laugh. She looked like she wanted to kiss him, as badly as he wanted to kiss her. But it couldn’t happen now. Not until her diagnosis.
Finally he stepped back and she took his hand. “Don’t worry, Tommy Baxter.” She smiled at him. Those green eyes. “I won’t replace you.”
“Same.” He didn’t look away. “Not now or ever.”
It’s just a checkup. Mononucleosis. Nothing more.
He bought a large drink for her and a small iced tea for himself.. They were almost back to the Jeep, talking about his basketball team and her chemistry class, when it happened.
A deafening screech came from the nearest intersection. Tommy turned and saw a gray sedan jolt to a halt, but the driver didn’t stand a chance. A new model pickup blazed through the red light without braking. The truck barreled into the side of the sedan and somehow kept going.
“Tommy!” Annalee dropped her coffee and took a few steps toward the intersection. “The driver!”
Already smoke poured from the sedan’s engine and the hint of a flame curled up from under the hood. Several cars stopped, but no one got out. Tommy threw his drink and took off. He looked over his shoulder at Annalee. “Call 9-1-1!”
He rushed toward the car even as the fire grew. Other cars pulled up to the intersection and skidded to a stop. One guy opened his car door and stood, but he didn’t move, didn’t run toward the flaming sedan.
Only Tommy did that.
Everything shifted into slow motion. He couldn’t see anything but the car and now something else. A woman frantically struggling inside the twisted wreckage. She looked like she was trying to free herself.
Tommy reached the sedan and grabbed the driver’s door handle. It wouldn’t budge. The heat was intense and getting hotter. Flames moved over the front of the car toward the windshield. It’s going to blow, Tommy thought to himself. God, help me, please. It’s going to blow!
With a strength greater than his own, Tommy finally jerked the door open. “Come on!” He took hold of the woman’s arm. She was older, maybe in her late seventies. “You have to get out!”
Sirens sounded in the distance, but it didn’t matter. Tommy didn’t have time for fire trucks or ambulances. A half a minute or so was all he had to get the lady out. Seconds, even.
“Help me!” the woman screamed. “I… I can’t get my seatbelt off!”
Smoke was filling the car, the heat suffocating both of them. Tommy held his breath and reached over the woman. God, please… Tommy pushed the seatbelt button again and again. “Come on… please.” And suddenly… it released.
The smoke and heat were definitely getting to the woman. She choked and gasped, struggling to breathe. There was just one way Tommy was going to get her out of the car alive. He hooked his arms beneath hers and pulled with everything he had.
With a supernatural speed and strength, Tommy dragged the woman across the intersection to the nearest curb. At the same time an explosion ripped through the vehicle and shot it ten feet off the ground.
Hovering over the woman, Tommy watched, horrified. God, you saved us. Thank You. He had no words, just gratitude. A fire truck pulled up and an ambulance behind it. The scene unfolded in a rush of motion. People running about, passersby and drivers crowding to the intersection. Paramedics hurried up to the woman and took over. One man asked Tommy to step back.
Which he did.
All the way back to the spot near Benson’s where Annalee stood pinned to a brick wall. Her face pale, her whole body trembling. “Tommy.”
He took her in his arms and held on. No one seemed to notice them. The flaming car had everyone’s attention now—not the guy who had pulled the woman from danger. Tommy didn’t care. The driver was safe now, that was all that mattered.
The woman was safe.
“You… you could’ve been killed.” Annalee pressed her forehead to his chest. “You’re crazy.”
“Someone had to help her.” Tommy was shaking now, too. The adrenaline catching up to him. “She… she wouldn’t have made it.”
Annalee looked up at him. “You had seconds. That’s all.”
Everyone should’ve run to her, Tommy wanted to say. “She needed help.” He cradled her head in his hands. “It’s okay.” He breathed the words into her beautiful blond hair. “God was with me.”
A police officer walked up and took a report. What happened and who hit who. “You dragged her from the car? Before the explosion?”
“Yes, sir.” Tommy slid his hands into his jeans pockets. “I did.”
The officer studied him. “You’re a rare breed, son.” He patted Tommy’s shoulder. “Kind, compassionate. Selfless.” His eyes softened. “We could use a few more like you.”
“Thanks.” Tommy wanted to say it was no big deal. Running toward the burning car wasn’t something he took time to consider. “Anyone would’ve helped her.”
But he was the only one who did.
The police officer finished taking notes, while across the street the ambulance pulled off with the woman inside. A tow truck moved what was left of the sedan. The cop looked up from his notepad. “She’s breathing well.” He narrowed his eyes. “She’ll be okay… because of you.”
When the officer was gone, Annalee took Tommy’s hand and stared at him. “Anyone would not have helped.” She looked over her shoulder at the intersection, and turned to Tommy again. “Only you.”
“Anyway…” He’d had enough of the conversation. He forced a smile. “You lost your coffee again.”
“Seems to be a theme.” She linked arms with him and pointed at the gutter. Their empty plastic cups still lay there. She picked them up and tossed them into a nearby trashcan. “Looks like we need to come back. Maybe after the doctor.”
H
e laughed and held the door as she climbed into his Jeep. That’s what they would do. After the doctor figured out her mono and sent them on their way, they could come back here and pretend like he hadn’t rescued a woman from a burning car and she hadn’t had to go get her fatigue checked out.
Because by then everything would be fine.
* * *
THE DOCTOR WAS an internist. A specialist in internal medicine. Tommy read that on the man’s door as they entered his office. Annalee checked in and sat beside him in the waiting area. Tommy took her hand. “You worried?”
“Not at all.” A few swipes and she opened her texts. “Look.” She smiled and held the phone up so he could see it. “My mom asked the same thing.”
Tommy studied her. She didn’t look as tired today. Her cheeks were pink, her green eyes bright with life. He watched her texting her mom back. “What’re you telling her?”
“Same thing.” She slipped her phone in her purse and leaned back. “I’m sure it’s mono, Tommy. Plus, doctors like to rule out things. That’s all.”
That sounded right. Of course her primary doctor had suggested this specialist. Annalee had been tired since the trip to Thailand two months ago. And she had a cough she couldn’t shake. Sometimes—if Tommy was honest—Annalee seemed out of breath from nothing more than crossing the street. He tapped his foot and looked around the office.
Framed beach art hung on every wall. One painting looked like Phuket. He gave her hand a soft squeeze. “Seems like yesterday, walking Karon Beach.”
“Mmm. Yes.” She breathed deep. “I feel better today. So, that’s good.”
“It is.” Tommy gripped the arms of his chair. Why was he so anxious? “Open gym went well.”
“I can’t believe it’s your last season.” She didn’t look away, didn’t blink. “I’m glad I get to watch you play. One more year.”
Something inside him relaxed. They had so much ahead. The rest of the fall semester and then Christmas break and the games would start. Tommy loved having Annalee in the stands. She and her parents sitting next to his family.
“Annalee Miller?” A heavyset nurse stood at the doorway. She had kind eyes.
Annalee stood and gave him one last glance. “I’ll be right back.”
This is routine, he told himself. His eyes landed on the beach painting again. Otherwise her parents would be here. His phone buzzed and he checked it. His cousin Cole Baxter Blake texted him a few times a week. This time about a girl he was seeing at school. The conversation helped Tommy pass the time.
Seven minutes later, Annalee walked through the door holding a piece of paper. Tommy stood to meet her and immediately two things troubled him. First, the appointment hadn’t taken nearly long enough. Even the most basic exam should at least take twenty minutes. The other thing was more obvious.
Annalee looked scared to death.
When they were out in the hall, she stopped and faced him. “I need a scan. It’s two floors down in the hospital wing.” She held up the piece of paper. “They want me to do it now.”
Tommy’s mind began to spin. “A… a scan?” He shook his head. “For what?”
“My lungs and chest.” Annalee looked up. “The doctor drew blood to check for mono. But he heard something, when he listened to me breathe.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s probably all part of the virus.”
The floor didn’t feel solid anymore, and Tommy couldn’t find his voice. As they entered the elevator, he focused on the place where Annalee held tight to his elbow. Standing next to him. Where she’d been as far back as freshman year.
At the imaging department, he held the door for her. They were barely inside when a tech stepped into the waiting area. “Annalee? We’re ready for you.”
She turned a weak smile toward Tommy and waved.
“It could take an hour,” the woman told him. “If you’d like to have a seat.”
Annalee moved through the door with the tech and Tommy was alone in the room. This one had nothing on the walls.
He sat down and clasped his hands. Why was it going to take an hour? He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to think about it. But the questions came anyway. How far away had they taken her? And what about her parents? Should he call them and tell them or had the doctor done that already?
It’s just routine, he told himself. She’s probably had mono for months. Which can’t be good. But her grades were still amazing and she still laughed at his jokes. So she wasn’t that tired. Not too sick, like something more serious.
But what if…?
No way he could finish the question, so he let it dangle against the backdrop of his pounding heart. And in the sterile cold of the waiting area, Tommy Baxter did the only thing he could think to do.
He dropped to his knees.
4
The trip to New York City was in twenty-four hours and Reagan Baxter could think of little else. She parked her Acura at the lot near Indianapolis’s Downtown Canal Walk and looked up. The leaves were starting to turn. Weather reports said it was going to be a beautiful autumn.
But first they would take their New York trip.
She spotted her sister-in-law’s SUV. They had arranged this walk a week ago, a chance to talk about the visit to Ground Zero. For the first time, both families would return to Lower Manhattan for the anniversary of 9/11.
The lives they’d lived back then, the losses they’d faced were topics Reagan and Ashley Baxter Blake rarely talked about. All of them had lived in Bloomington, Indiana, when the terrorist attacks happened. But at the time, Reagan’s parents lived in Manhattan. Her dad had worked in the North Tower, on one of the top floors.
He had died there.
Eventually, Reagan had married Ashley’s brother, Luke, and the two of them had moved to Indianapolis and raised a family. Tommy, Malin, and Johnny, who was a second grader. Their story was heartbreaking and hope-filled, a marriage that had survived great losses. But it stood as a beacon for all their family.
Beauty from ashes.
For Ashley, it was her husband, Landon, who had painful memories from his time in lower Manhattan. In 2001, he had been hired by the Fire Department of New York and would have been there that September 11, but a work injury in Bloomington had set him months behind. He was well enough when the attacks happened that he dropped everything and took a bus to New York that terrible day to look for one particular missing firefighter.
His best friend, Jalen.
Landon had worked at Ground Zero until he and a team of firefighters found Jalen’s body in the mountains of debris. Landon returned home and in time he and Ashley married and had a family. Ashley’s life had been equally full. She and Landon had Cole, nineteen; Amy, fourteen; Devin, twelve; and Janessa, eight. They had lost one baby just after birth. But what they had was rich and true and beautiful.
And all of it born from the ruins of 9/11.
Now this year they had finally all gotten vacation days around September 11. Nineteen years had come and gone since their lives were changed that Tuesday morning, and now the trip was tomorrow.
Reagan had looked forward to this walk with Ashley so they could talk about the past before flying to LaGuardia. Reagan met up with her sister-in-law in the parking lot and the two hugged. Ashley blew at a wisp of her hair. “You packed?”
“Hardly.” Reagan laughed. “You know me. Last minute.”
“Me, too. Landon keeps me in line.” Ashley unzipped her windbreaker.
“How were things at the gallery?” They made their way to the path.
“Amazing.” Ashley’s pace was slow and easy. “I sold three paintings this week.”
For years Ashley had displayed her artwork at a gallery an hour south in downtown Bloomington, where she and her family lived. But her reach had expanded. Now she was selling paintings at a gallery in Indianapolis, too. “Congratulations.” Reagan smiled. “I’m not surprised. You’re so talented, Ash.”
“Thanks.” Ashley stared at the river. No
t many people were out on the three-mile canal loop this afternoon. “So… tomorrow.”
“I know.” Reagan lifted her eyes. The sky was crystal blue, the faintest breeze stirring the trees that lined the walk. “I haven’t been back since my mother moved.”
“When did she leave New York? Not long after 9/11, right?”
“A few years.” Reagan nodded to a bench up ahead. “Want to sit? The sun feels good.”
“Sure.” Ashley took the spot beside her and they looked at the water. “Such a pretty area… here in the middle of the city.”
“I love it.” Reagan came here often. She would bring lunch to Luke at his nearby law office and then walk for an hour. “My mother moved to Florida the year after Luke and I married. So, yeah. It’s been a long time since I’ve been back.”
“Me, too.” Ashley crossed her arms. “Every time we think about taking the trip, something else comes up. Or we make other plans.”
Reagan understood. “I can’t believe I’ll be standing at Ground Zero tomorrow.”
“Your mom never remarried?” Ashley faced Reagan. “Is she… lonely?”
“She’s not.” Reagan pictured her mother’s sweet face, and she felt the corners of her lips lift. “She helps out at a local children’s home. And Tuesdays she attends a singles Bible study. Fifteen people her age without spouses. That keeps her busy.”
“I can’t imagine… what she went through that day.” Ashley narrowed her eyes and looked off. “Your dad goes to work, ordinary day, and without warning he’s trapped in the worst terrorist attack to hit the United States.”
“His view from the eighty-ninth floor of the World Trade Center was breathtaking.” Reagan could still remember the time she and Luke visited him there, mere months before 9/11. “Life felt untouchable up there. He had no idea what was coming.”
Ashley sighed. “Landon talked to Jalen’s parents. Sometimes they visit Manhattan on the anniversary.” She sat a little straighter. “Not this year.”
Truly, Madly, Deeply Page 3