by Hart, Taylor
His mind raced.
Then he thought about Don, the stupid Midway guy.
He dismissed that. No, that fire was squelched the other night at the dance club.
Just when he was about to call her again, his phone rang.
“Sam.” He felt out of breath.
She didn’t answer for a few moments, and he could tell she was crying.
“Sam, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t talk right now. I’m boarding a plane for Denver. Janet called and told me Zoey is in the hospital.”
He could tell she was trying to control her voice, and he could just imagine how worried she was. “I’ll come too.” He offered instantly.
She let out a little sob. “No, I’m getting on the plane. I’ll be there tonight. I’ll let you know more tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Damon wanted to do something. Anything. His mind whirled with possibilities of how he could help, but he came up short.
“Thanks, Damon. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Then the phone went dead.
* * *
The next day, Damon worked on the house with Nick and the crew again, but he was edgy all day. He hadn’t slept well, and when he had slept, he’d dreamed about being in the center of a smoke-filled room and hearing Sam call out to him.
Now, he tried to just focus on hammering nails, the music blaring, and letting it all go.
“You okay?” Nick asked, coming up beside him.
Damon hammered another nail in with one hit, then turned to him. “Yes.”
“Liar.” Nick frowned. “Have you heard anything?”
Damon wanted to give in to the kneejerk reaction of rudeness. But this was Nick, and he knew he was genuinely concerned. He didn’t deserve Damon’s crappy attitude. He shook his head. “Nope.”
Nick nodded. “You want to go get something to eat with me when we get off?”
Damon shook his head. Eating was the furthest thing from his mind. “No, I’m going to keep working.”
Nick shrugged and walked away.
Damon worked the rest of the day. The crew quit, Nick left, and Damon was still so engrossed in the building, he didn’t even notice when Luke arrived.
“Hey.”
Damon almost dropped the nail gun on his foot. He shook his head and glared at him. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“Whoa!” Luke held out a bag from the local hamburger joint. “I brought you something. Nick said you were … especially focused today.”
Damon just picked up another nail. “No thanks. You got a deadline, and we’re going to meet it.”
He shot a few more nails, getting more irritated with every second that Luke stood there.
“Damon,” Luke said loudly. “Just stop for a second, okay?”
Damon stopped and lowered the nail gun to the ground. “Fine, you want me to stop? I’ll stop.” He really wanted to pound something or someone, and if Luke wanted to be the target, so be it.
Unfortunately, Luke didn’t take the bait. “Just sit down and eat something.”
Damon wanted to fight, but suddenly he just felt hungry and tired and defeated. “Fine.” He took the bag.
Luke gestured to a step. “Let’s sit.”
So Damon did, pulling the wrapper off a chicken sandwich and scarfing it down without even thinking about it.
Luke sat next to him, not saying anything.
Damon continued to eat, and Luke handed him a water bottle. Damon took it, opening it and guzzling it, hating all of these emotions rumbling around inside of him.
“I got a note from the secretary that something was wrong with her sister.”
Damon shrugged. “Yeah.”
Luke still didn’t press him.
They both sat there for a few minutes.
Damon heard a buzzing on his phone and whipped it out.
It was from Sam. Zoey is not doing well. Doctors don’t know if she will wake up. Can’t talk.
Damon stared at it, not knowing what to do.
Luke looked over his shoulder. “Oh man.”
They both just sat there.
Damon texted her. Do you want me to come?
Immediately, she texted back. No.
Damon closed his eyes, not knowing what to do.
Luke shook his head. “Dang it.”
Damon tried to focus on breathing deeply, not getting sucked under.
“Are you okay, man?” Luke asked.
Damon looked out into the night, a place even darker than he had been in before he’d been brought back to Park City. “I went crazy.” He suddenly confessed.
Luke didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he leaned back, putting his hands behind him to prop himself up on the stairs. “I guess you’re talking about before you came home.”
“Yeah.” Damon sighed, unleashing his emotions felt right. “My first day as captain I sent in this girl. Child really. Jamie had been the new candidate for about a month. She was spunky.” He thought of the fire in that girl’s eyes. “Had a chip on her shoulder.” He grinned. “I liked her. I thought she was one of the better candidates I’d seen in a long time. She had … determination, ya know?”
Luke only watched him.
He cleared his throat. “My first day, that morning, she was in my office all fired up about how she wasn’t getting to do real firefighting. She thought we were going easy on her because she was a girl.” Damon shook his head, remembering every word of that interaction. Remembering the determination in her eyes. “So the next call we went on, I sent her in.” He sighed. “Ya know, looking back I remember having that flash of a second when I knew I shouldn’t. When it was like I could see all pieces of the puzzle in front of me during the fire, and I knew who needed to go where, who needed to stay, but she was there staring at me. I could feel her need to go, so I did it. I sent her. Her death is on me. It’s my fault.”
Luke didn’t react, only nodded, then looked away. “You remind me so much of dad when you act like you’re responsible for every single person in your path.”
Damon tensed. “No, dad was a control freak.”
Luke snorted. “You’re sounding the same.”
“Shut up.”
Luke sighed.
Damon abruptly knew that Luke had already known. He could tell. He shook his head. “Nick told you, didn’t he?”
Luke met his gaze. “No.”
Damon’s gut still said he had known. “But you knew.”
Giving him a remorseful look, Luke sighed. “Of course I knew. The day I saw you at my house I called your old fire department and found out.”
Damon glared at him, but he wasn’t surprised. “Of course you did. Who’s the control freak now?”
Neither of them spoke for several moments, and Damon thought about how similar both of them, actually all three of them, were to his father.
“What?”
Damon exhaled. “You know dad and I didn’t see eye to eye on much, and that’s part of what kept me away.”
Luke’s jaw clenched, and Damon knew this was unsettled territory. “But I guess he did raise us to be competent. To be decent.”
Anger flashed in Luke’s eyes. “Don’t you dare blame your issues on dad.”
Damon scowled. “I wasn’t blaming him.” The center of his chest felt heavy, and he wanted to quit talking about the past.
“You stayed away because you were embarrassed you quit.” Luke spit the words out.
Without thinking, Damon clocked him and stood in one motion.
It hadn’t been a fair punch, but sometimes things weren’t fair with brothers.
Luke stumbled, fell back, and then jumped to his feet. His face was red, and his hand brushed his lip. “You son of a—” But he never finished because he rushed at Damon, dipping his shoulder as if making a tackle in football.
Damon took the tackle, holding him and flipping him as they hit the ground.
Fighting in a construction zone wasn’t a brilliant thing to do, b
ut neither of them cared.
Damon turned him on his back and held him down. “You have no idea what happened between me and dad. Don’t act like you do!” It was obvious that Damon was in far superior physical shape. Plus, he’d been training for the fight lately.
Luke growled at him then used his head to butt him in the chin.
Sharp pain pulsed through his jaw.
Luke used the distraction to his advantage and managed to roll and then get a knee wedged between them. He pushed him off and scrambled to his feet.
Damon held his chin for a second and prepared for another attack.
Luke only glared at him. “Then tell me. Tell me!” He roared. “You left and never came back. How do you think that made me feel? Me? And Nick? Do you know how many times he asked why you never visited? Do you?” Tears filled Luke’s eyes.
All the fight went completely out of Damon. He’d been selfish. At this moment, he realized the extent to which his own problems and demons had affected others.
He was speechless.
Luke still didn’t move. “What happened between you and dad?”
It was like Damon had suddenly been gut punched. He knew Luke deserved an answer. Letting out a breath, he turned away from him. “When I quit, he flew out.” Damon turned back, staring Luke in the eyes. This brother who thought he truly had abandoned him. Who didn’t know. “He told me I was a disappointment, and I should stay in Boston.”
The pain of it had dulled over the years, but at this moment, it ripped through his chest.
Luke blinked and sucked in a breath. “What?”
The strange thing about the truth was how once it was out it didn’t have as much power to torment. Damon wanted to explain now. “Dad told me I had all the potential in the world and he’d used enough political capital on me. Now it was time for me to be on my own.”
Luke rocked back, shaking his head. “I can’t believe it.”
Looking at his brother, Damon realized he shouldn’t have let his father dictate his actions, but he had. The irony wasn’t lost on him that everything Damon had thought was true, that he didn’t really have family anymore, wasn’t true. It was clear on Luke’s face how much he’d been hurt.
Tears welled up in Luke’s eyes. “I’ve missed you, bro. Dad shouldn’t have done that.”
Damon felt his own eyes moisten. “I should have kept in touch with you no matter what.” Damon felt like a jerk and wiped his nose with his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Luke looked like he didn’t know what to say.
“You kept tabs on me and didn’t sell the cabins even when you thought I was just a jerk.”
Luke cocked an eyebrow. “You’re my brother. Of course, I keep tabs on you.”
Truth be told, he didn’t deserve his brother’s concern. He turned away.
Then he felt a gentle hand on his back. “Nick did the right thing bringing you back.”
To have his brother know and understand meant more to Damon than he could express. His mind flashed to the past six months. To everything that had led him back to Park City.
Luke pulled his hand back. “And you did the right thing with that candidate. You gave her a chance to be a firefighter. That’s all any of us want. A chance to do what we love.”
He turned. Their eyes met, and he saw tears in his brother’s eyes.
Then Luke leaned forward and hugged him.
Damon lost it, and it was like one of those annoyingly mushy scenes in a movie where fences are mended.
Damon stood, pushing the tears out of his eyes.
Luke stood too and wiped his own eyes. “Man.”
Damon shook his head and unbuckled his tool belt. “I’m going to go home.”
Luke waited for him on the steps. “Do you want to sleep in one of my guest rooms tonight?”
Damon saw the compassion on his face and decided to keep sharing. “You know the worst part is I told Sam all this crap the other day, and you know what she told me?”
Luke shook his head.
“She told me I didn’t have to rescue people. That people make choices.” He walked down the steps and out to his Jeep.
Luke followed him. “She was right.”
Damon shook his head. “I don’t know. But now she’s there with her druggie sister in the hospital, and I’m scared for her. I just wonder if I … if I can be there for her. If I can have the strength, the faith, to help her like she did me.”
Luke shook his head then put up a hand. “All we can do is pray.” More tears filled Luke’s eyes. “That’s what I did for you every night, bro. That’s what I still do for you.”
Damon cried, and they hugged again, and then they broke apart, laughing at how ridiculous they were being.
“Oh man.” Damon sniffed.
“You’re such a girl.” Luke agreed.
Both of them stood there. Damon was grateful, so grateful in this moment.
Luke started to move to his car. “Bro.”
Damon stopped on his way to his Jeep and turned back.
Luke let out a deep breath. “The only thing we can really do for the people we love is be there.”
Damon thought about how his brothers were here for him. How they always had been there for him whether he realized it or not. He nodded at Luke. “Thanks.”
Damon got into his Jeep and made a command decision. He was going to Denver. He whipped out his phone and called Nick.
“Yeah.”
“I need you to find out where Zoey Worthington lives and what hospital she’s in.”
Nick hesitated then cleared his throat. “Her sister, I presume.”
“Yep.”
“Damon, do you know what you’re doing?”
“Nope. And don’t give me some crap about ethics.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll text you. Good luck, man.”
16
Sam sat in the hospital room next to her sister’s bed. The only sounds were the monitor beeping and Janet turning the page of a magazine every few minutes.
Sam held Zoey’s hand, her chair scooched up to her side. The doctor had hoped she would wake up, but she hadn’t. The toxic level from the drugs were too high. At this point, they didn’t know what would happen. She felt completely drained and numb.
She couldn’t stop beating herself up. What had she been thinking? She should have known she couldn’t leave. Why had she let Zoey stay by herself?
The loser, Tim, had shown his face earlier, and she thought Janet would kick his butt from here to Timbuktu if he didn’t leave. So he’d left, looking stricken.
The last two days, she hadn’t slept, and she’d barely eaten. She had only left to shower at Janet’s before coming straight back.
If there was one thing Sam wasn’t good at, it was waiting. She was good at pouring over legal briefs or going for a run or figuring out ways to distract Zoey, but she wasn’t good at just sitting here.
Bending her head, she did something she hadn’t done in a long time—she prayed. She didn’t even know how to tell if it was working.
“Sam.”
For a second, she didn’t open her eyes because she didn’t believe he was there.
Then she did open them, and there was Damon. He stood in the doorway, wearing jeans, a black T-shirt, and his leather jacket. The first thing she’d noticed was that he’d shaved. Completely shaved. All his facial hair was gone. Somehow, he looked younger, more innocent.
She didn’t move, didn’t know what to say. Wishing she could jump up and introduce him to Zoey. Wishing …
He eyed Janet, who stared at him like he was a Greek god sent down from Olympus. “H-hi.”
Damon nodded and put his hand out to shake hers. “I’m Damon.”
Janet stood and shook his hand then looked at her.
Sam still didn’t move, didn’t feel like she could let go of Zoey’s hand. Like her hand might be the only thing keeping Zoey grounded to this earth.
Damon dropped Janet’s hand and then asked, “Could I
talk to Sam alone for a bit?”
Janet seemed floored by the fact Damon was here, but she only nodded. “Sure.”
He took a chair and scraped it on the bottom of the floor up next to her. “Hey.” He put his shoulder next to hers and gave her a bump.
Was she in a catatonic state? Maybe. It felt like she could be.
Then his hand was lightly on her back. With gentle pressure, he rubbed it back and forth. “Hey.”
She felt herself loosen. Felt the strength of him seep into her. She thought about the past two weeks, meeting him, knowing him, loving him. Tears instantly welled into her eyes, and she looked back at him. “Hey.”
His arm went around her, and he pulled her into his shoulder.
She still had her hand on Zoey, but it felt good, solid, to have him there.
“I know you didn’t want me to come, but I had to.”
She felt a stream of tears start down her cheeks. She thought about her whole life. How she’d been the strong one. Always held it together. Pushed through. Kept the peace with Janet. Fought for Zoey. Pushed all of them to be a family. Now, there was someone else. He was here, and she didn’t know how he’d gotten here or exactly how he’d ended up in her life, but she couldn’t even put together all the words his being here meant to her. “Thank you” was all she could say.
He hugged her tighter, gently wiping her tears away. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Not believing him entirely, she reflected on how it did feel better, how just being together felt better. “I’m scared, Damon. I’m really scared.”
He let her go and then took her free hand, gently squeezing it. “I know.”
His being here seemed to unlock everything inside of her, and she suddenly could talk. “It’s my fault. All of it. Her being here. Her being about to die. I did this. I left her.”
Damon didn’t speak.
“I was so selfish. She needed me.” She broke into tears again, bending to tuck into his shoulder.
He held her, gently rubbing her hair back from her head. “No. No. That’s not true.”
But she was ready to fight about it. “Yes, it is true. It is. She was mad at me for leaving, and I was blinded by—”