Loving A Firefighter (Loving Series) (2 page)

The first responder came back with the EMT.
  For the first time, Carrie noticed his eyes were green.  She could feel an attraction at the sight of him, something she realized she had never experienced with Nathan.  “We’ve found the fire was contained to your apartment.  It appears the smoke was coming from the sofa.  It was smoldering.  We’re going to take it out of the house, and open the windows and let the smoke escape.  He stood so close she could feel the heat from his body. 

The hospital will probably just keep you over night.  You’re Carrie Evans, right?  An arson investigator will get back to you later.  The police may have some questions also.  My name’s Chip Reynolds.  He handed her a card with his name, the fire department number and his cellphone number.”

The EMT looked at Carrie.  “Good looking guy isn’t he?  He can park his boots under my bed anytime.”

Carrie blushed.  She hadn’t realized her attraction was that obvious.  They closed the doors to the ambulance and began to move off.
 

At the hospital, Carrie moved quickly through the triage process at Baylor Med.  Before she was transferred to a gurney and wheeled off for pictures of her lungs
, they drew blood for analysis.  After the doctors looked at the X-Rays, one came in to tell her there was nothing obvious appearing in the X-Rays, however; they would keep her overnight for observation.  She was told she would need to seek medical help if any symptoms appeared after she went home.  Carrie found it difficult to sleep. With the nurses checking frequently for any signs of respiratory distress, she hardly got any sleep.    

During the brief intervals of sleep she did get, she dreamed of Chip Reynolds
, her research had shown dreams were of short duration regardless of how they seemed in the dream.  In her short dreams, she dreamed of Chip rushing into a room filled with flames, finding her, checking her temperature by placing his hands against her forehead to check her temperature, them carrying her down the ladder of a hook and ladder truck.  In another, he carried her down the stairs, and described her condition to a doctor and in another, breathing life back into her still body.

The best was the last.  He came upon her lifeless body,
checked for a heartbeat by putting his hands on her chest.  She began giving her mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration.   She didn’t know they still did that.  She had always thought artificial respiration involved compressing the chest.  Maybe this was a new treatment.  He was a first responder, so he should be familiar with all of the latest techniques.  Whatever, she liked this new technique.  She awakened to find herself flushed and feeling overheated.  Her inner core was overheated and she was wet.

When she was fully awakened, she was aware how
warm she was in her girly-girl places.  She looked around, cheeks flushed, glad no one was around.  Just then a nurse came in.  “Honey your face is all flushed.  Are you hot?”

Carrie smiled and shook her head.  But she thought,
“Hot? I’ll say I am.”

9:00AM The next day

The doctor had just finished checking Carrie’s chart,
and pronounced his satisfaction with what he had seen.  “You’ll be discharged this afternoon.  We want to look at some new pictures and if everything’s okay, we’ll let you go.  You’ll need to see your pulmonary specialist in two weeks.  In the interim, if any symptoms come up that match the list we’ll give you, you’re to return here immediately.  By the way, we confirmed from the culture we took, you do have flu, but your lungs are clear and I don’t think you’re at risk of pneumonia.  Any questions?”  He then left to continue his rounds.

As he walked out the door, Chip walked in.  He was dressed casually, with a Tee shirt whose sleeves were filled with
his bulging biceps.  She remembered her dream about artificial respiration.  His broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist.  He was freshly shaved and the musky, woodsy aroma of Halston I12 preceded him into the room.  She recognized it because it had been her dad’s favorite before the divorce.  “Good morning, Ms. Evans.  How are you feeling this morning?”

“Carrie,” she
murmured, “Call me Carrie,” she said.

“Only if you call me Chip,”
grinning, he held out his hand.

“Hi, Chip,” she said, holding onto his hand
a little longer than necessary.

“Hi, Carrie,” he answered. 
“I have some questions for you.  I just left the arson investigator.  He told me he found a hot spot, where the fire started.  It appears an accelerant was used, such as gasoline, indicating arson.  Who had a key to your apartment?”

“Of course, I had one, and the apartment manager.”

“No one else?”

“Oh, I just remembered.  My ex-boyfriend conned the apartment manager into giving him
a key.  I came home from work and caught him in my bed with some blonde bimbo.  I chased them out with my baseball bat.  I told him if I ever saw him again, I’d have him arrested for breaking and entering…Could I actually do that?”

“If he came by the key in an illicit manner, I would think so.”

“He told me he talked the manager into giving him the key by saying he was my fiancé.”

“Was he?  Your fiancé, I mean.”

“No.  We only went out three or four times.  I made the mistake of inviting him in once and he was all over me.  I’ve never seen anyone with so many hands.  He wanted to go to bed but I told him no, and I didn’t want to see him ever again.  He was furious and said nobody dumped him.  When I chased him out, he said…”

“He said what?”

“He said if I had given him what he was getting from her, it wouldn’t have happened, so it was my fault.”

“
Interesting point of view.  He breaks into your home and it’s your fault.  What a loser.  Where did you find him anyway?”

“A friend introduced us.
  I just remembered, I forgot to get the key back when I ran him off.”

“Some friend.
  It looks as if he came back, let himself in and poured gasoline on the couch and lit it.  It would have erupted into flames before long.  You’re lucky you weren’t overcome by the smoke.  How did you get out?.”

“My fire alarm woke me.  I smelled smoke in the bedroom, but didn’t see any flames.  I
touched the door, and it was cool so I went into the kitchen and saw nothing.  I crawled to the door, went out and pulled the alarm.  Then I started getting the neighbors up and I left the building just as you came up”

“Well, it seems you did everything right.  If your door had been open, you might have been overcome
by the smoke.  Are you a sound sleeper?”

“Not usually, but the doctor had given me a shot and I
’ve been sleepy all day.”

“That’s probably why the alarm didn’t awaken you
sooner.  What about the crawling to the door?  Where’d you learn that?”

“A fireman came to our school when I was in the fifth grade and told us about the ‘drop and roll’ and how the air is cleaner near the floor.”

“Good thing you paid attention.  That might have saved your life yesterday.”

He stood and took her hand.  It disappeared inside his two clasped hands. 
“Would you mind if I called to check and see how you’re doing?  I mean if I have any more questions?”

“No,
I’d like that.  Call me anytime.  If I’m not home, I work at WFAA in the news department.  I’m a researcher for Channel 8.  Will I be able to get back into my apartment today?”

“I think so.  We took the sofa out and to the lab
.  It may smell a bit smoky.  You need to be careful with that, what with your inhaling the smoke last night.  Also, you need to make the apartment manager change your locks.  If you have any trouble over that, tell him to call the Denton Fire Department Arson investigator, or just call me at the number on the card I gave you.  Can I give you a ride back to your apartment when you’re released?”

“I’ll take a cab.”

“You don’t need to go to that expense.  We’ll likely have more questions, so give me a call and I’ll pick you up.”

“I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“Nonsense.  It’s no trouble.  All part of the job.”

“Oh, ok.”

Carrie was disappointed in the ‘part of the job remark’ and she didn’t plan to call when she was released.  Instead she was going to take a cab until she found it was against hospital rules to leave alone.  She called one of her girlfriends, related most of the story and told her she needed a ride.  Mandy was glad to give her a ride, provided she got the whole story.

Back in her apartment, Carrie found it was indeed smoky in the living room area and turned the ceiling fan on.  The bedroom and kitchen were habitable without problems.

* * *

After Mandy left, Carrie called the apartment manager and asked to meet with him to discuss the events leading to the fire and actions necessary afterwards.  Carrie asked him to come to her apartment so the damage would be apparent and at hand when she discussed the need for new locks as well as the manager’s giving Nathan access.

The manager was reluctant to agree to change the locks, but changed his mind after being informed he should contact the Fire Department Arson Investigator.  Carrie also told him she intended to tell the police about his giving access to the suspected arsonist.  A locksmith came that afternoon and changed the locks.  The manager came back and assured her she and he had the only key and none would be given to anyone without Carrie’s express written permission.  He also indicated a remediation company had been authorized to repair and paint her apartment and would replace her carpeting.  They would also replace the damaged and unusable sofa.  Carrie was most pleased, though it did not in any way influence her decision to move as soon as she could afford it.

Carrie received a phone call from the detective assigned to investigate the arson and
they agreed on a time to take her statement.

She
called her supervisor, Mrs. Tompkins, and told her the whole story including her having the flu and having been hospitalized.  The supervisor suggested Carrie work at home for a few days.  She also suggested it would make a good article for the broadcast, since she was a reporter/researcher for the news department.  Carrie agreed and promised to write it up.  With her laptop, she had the ability to log into the station’s computers through VPN and access the data bases; she could then file the story from home.

As she sat in bed, sipping her hot coffee, she tried to plan her
day; her mind kept flipping to images of Chip Reynolds. 
“I understand if the things he did and suggested were all part of the job.  What if they weren’t?  What if he phrased it that way to soften the impact of rejection if she took it the wrong way?  What if he really wanted to see her again?  It would be really nice to see him again.  I am definitely attracted.  So many questions, and I have so few answers.  Why am I sitting here talking to myself?  I need to get a cat or puppy. Mom always says don’t obsess about the things you can’t control, just take care of the things you can control.  I’ll just have to wait and see.”

A police detective and his partner came by to take her statement.  They had been there the night of the fire and the
followup the next day while she was in the hospital.  They asked the same questions Chip Reynolds had asked.   In addition, they asked for information about Nathan.  They wanted his name, address, where he worked and his telephone numbers.

They
asked if she had seen or heard from him since she chased him away with the bat.  She had not.  They asked to be notified if she did hear from him or see him under any circumstances.  They told her they had already talked with the apartment manager and had chastised him about allowing access to apartments without either being there or the tenants being present.  Worse was giving out keys without authorization.

They also asked about anyone else that might have had ill feelings toward
her.  She could think of no one.  Asked if she was concerned Nathan might return or accost her on the street or at work.  She admitted she was.  She thought her bat was enough protection and didn’t feel the need to own a handgun.  She carried pepper spray in her purse.  The detectives left and promised to contact her if anything came up.

That afternoon
…

Carrie answered the ring of the phone, hoping it was Chip.  It was the lead detective calling to tell her Nathan had been arrested.  A background check indicated he had previously been suspected in
questionable fires.  He would be charged and held for arraignment unless he made bail.  The district attorney would ask for a high bail amount and he probably would not be able to make it since he had no apparent assets.

This news came as a shock to Carrie.  She was just realizing the depth of her near mistake with Nathan.  She was well rid of that relationship.

Carrie busied herself with the article on her experience with the fire in her apartment, and her escape from the smoke filled unit.  She did not mention Nathan’s name, but did tell about the
Denton Fire Department determining it was arson and the police had a suspect in custody.  After a couple rewrites, she sent it on to her editor to determine where to place it or if they would carry it at all.