Operation: Normal (14 page)

A piercing whistle jerked me from my dreams sometime later. I immediately smelled
smoke. I sprang from the bed, knocking everything off the side table in the process. Scooping up
a whimpering Kayly, I dashed into the hall, where I ran smack into Esme.

"Stay as low as you can!" I ordered, not because I knew what to do in case of fire, but
because the night lights strategically placed throughout the apartment revealed that thick smoke
seemed to be hovering waist high and above, making it next to impossible to see, much less
breathe. I grabbed Esme's hand. As we stumbled into the living area, all of us coughing hard, I
saw flames in the kitchen. Then the sprinkler system came on and doused us.

I as good as dragged a sputtering Esme out into the hall, where I pulled the fire
alarm.

"The elevator. Hurry!"

"No, not in a fire," she said, clutching my arm. "We have to use the stairs."

Oh yeah. God, could I be any worse in a crisis? I hustled Esme to the stairwell, and we
carefully began a painfully slow descent. I mean, it wasn't like she could just fly down those
steps. She could barely ambulate on a flat surface.

Sirens began to wail, and other residents began to join us in the stairwell. A couple of
men took over assisting Esme. That left me free to worry about Kayly, who coughed so hard she
threw up all over my top.

A fireman met us on the stairs just as we reached the second floor. He saw Kayly, took
her from me, and flew back down the stairs. By the time I made it outside, myself, she had an
oxygen mask over her face, which scared ten years off my life. I rushed over to the medic
holding her.

"She's okay! It's all good!" He caught me by the arm when I stepped on a piece of gravel
or something with my bare right foot and almost went down. "This is just a precaution."

I kissed the top of Kayly's head and looked up at our apartment building. I saw black
smoke roiling out of the fifth floor vents and around the windows, silhouetted against the
backdrop of an early dawn sky. A brisk morning breeze spread the smoke and rustled the leaves
of surrounding trees. I also saw a fire truck parked in the middle of the street in front of the
building, along with two police cars and an ambulance. Red and blue lights flashed all over the
place.

People I recognized as neighbors stood everywhere in all manner of day and night
clothes, most of them wrapped in blankets. I noted that firemen, cops, and medics scurried back
and forth, one securing yellow caution tape, another taking names and a head count, others going
in and out of the building. In short, I saw what must be a normal fire scene to the pros, but
looked like complete chaos to me.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?"

Since I'm not usually called that, I paid no attention until Esme said, "Ally, honey? This
young man needs you."

Turning, I saw Esme seated on a stretcher not three feet away, wrapped in a brownish
blanket. She had oxygen over her face and a bottle of water in her hand. A young fireman stood
beside her.

He nodded a greeting. "Ms. French said you pulled the fire alarm."

"Yes," I told him, hugging myself to keep from shivering. The breeze felt way cool for
summer, thanks to my soaked clothes and hair. And Kayly's puke smelled like sour milk.

"What happened?"

"Our smoke alarm woke me up. I got my sister and Esme. I pulled the fire alarm once
we got into the hall."

"Did you see any flames?"

"In the kitchen."

"And the sprinklers in your apartment were set off?"

"That's right."

At that moment, someone lay a blanket across my shoulders, which felt really good, and
handed me an oxygen mask. The sound of squealing brakes made me glance to my right before I
could actually test if oxygen would help my aching throat, though. I recognized Zach's SUV just
as he sprang from the driver's side, leapt over the caution tape, and charged the building.

"Zach!" I screamed even as a fireman waylaid him. "She's over here!"

He quit struggling with the fireman, pivoted and ran over to us. But it wasn't Kayly he
yanked up into his arms.

It was me.

Zach lifted me right off my feet and into a hug so tight I thought my ribs would crack. I
didn't even have time to hug him back--and believe me, I would've--before he set me on my feet
again and grabbed Kayly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, picking up my blanket and the oxygen mask from
where they had just landed, on the asphalt. I noticed he now had Kayly's barf on his shirt,
too.

"Some guy told me to come."

"What?"

"At exactly five this morning, I heard a man's voice, crystal clear, telling me to check on
you. Oh, hey, Esme. Are you okay?"

She beamed at him. "I'm just fine, thank you."

I tugged the hem of Zach's white tank, only then noticing what else he wore: faded
denim cut offs and flip flops. He had the worst case of bed head I'd ever seen.

"A man told you to check on me," I prompted.

Zach blinked as if he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

"Zach, focus. Please. A man told you to check on me?"

He abruptly nodded. "Yeah. Seriously. It was so freaking weird. I immediately tried to
call, but you didn't answer, so I came over. I could see the smoke long before I got here." Zach
shook his head and drew in a shaky breath. "That scared the living sh--"

He caught himself just in time and glanced at Kayly, which made me wonder if Heath
had said something to him about the cursing.

"What I mean is that it nearly did me in."

The poor guy looked so rattled that I reached out and touched his bare biceps. "Kayly's
all right, Zach. Really."

Zach got the oddest look on his face. "Kayly. Yeah."

* * * *

It was nearly nine in the morning before we got the all-clear to go back inside. We
learned that the fire had been confined to the fifth floor, specifically our apartment, which didn't
look nearly as bad as it had on Wednesday, at least on first glance. Closer inspection revealed
that water was pooled on every flat surface, from the bar to Mom's keyboard, and nothing
electric worked. Call me jaded, but all I could do was look around and shake my head. Crying
didn't even cross my mind. Too much had happened lately, I guess.

Alex Windmere, building super, strode into the place mere minutes after we did. He said
he'd already called the insurance company and an adjuster would be out on Monday to assess
fire, smoke and water damage. He suggested I call our renter's insurance agent. Meanwhile, he
intended to put us up in a motel until he got hold of the building's absentee owner.

"Actually, she's coming home with me," said Zach, surprising everyone in the room,
including
moi
. His words seemed to settle everything, and in seconds we stood
alone--well, except for Kayly--in the shadowy kitchen.

The room smelled of burnt rubber or something. Water still dripped from the sprinklers
in the ceiling. I saw a soaked roll of paper towels, a trash can brimming with water, a bowl full
of floating apples. And that was just the kitchen.

Sheesh. What else could happen before Mom got home?

"Will that be appropriate?" I belatedly asked, the next second giving myself a swift
mental kick in the tush. What did I care if it was appropriate? The guy had almost broken my ribs
hugging me. I wanted to know why. "For me to go home with you, I mean?"

Zach shrugged. "Why not? I'm practically your brother."

"Oh." I tried not to look disappointed. I really did. But that answer was such a letdown
after that amazing hug.

Clearly Zach picked up on my mood swing. "You don't want me to be your
brother?"

"Do you want to be?"

"I--" He stopped abruptly, then shook his head ever so slightly as if rethinking whatever
he started to say. I heard his hard swallow. "My roommate, Chase, will be there, okay? So
everything's cool. That is, if you want to come. You don't have to, of course. I mean, I'll take you
to a motel if that's what--"

"No!" I exclaimed in a sudden burst of honesty. I thrust Kayly at him. "We're coming.
I'll just pack some things." I turned and started to the bedrooms.

Zach's cry stopped me. "You're leaving a blood trail."

"What?" I looked down and saw that drops of red swirled on the wet tile, which made
me check the bottoms of both feet. I found an oozing cut in the arch of the right one and
remembered nearly tripping earlier. Naturally I started limping, all the way to the first aid box in
the kitchen cabinet. Zach swapped Kayly for the box, then waited while I sat on one of the bar
stools and lifted my foot to balance it on the bar itself. "Is it deep?"

"Not too," he said after examining it. "But it probably wouldn't hurt if you had one of
the medics outside check it, assuming they're still there."

"No way. Just put the Band-Aid on it, okay?"

"But your foot's dirty."

"Okay, then. I'll take a shower first."

Zach glanced down the sodden hall, then seemed to come to some kind of decision.
Turning, he quickly unwrapped the bandage and pressed it to my foot. "You can shower at my
apartment. The sooner we leave, the better. This place is creeping me out."

"Me, too," I murmured, heading for the bedroom once more. I grabbed what I could
easily put my hands on, haphazardly tossing it all into a gym bag. When I darted into the
bathroom to get my make-up and toothbrush, I caught sight of myself in the mirror.

I gasped and blurted the F word, which was all Zach's fault for saying it around me. But
I couldn't believe what a mess I was, from my dirt-streaked face to my cami, caked with puke
and clinging to my bare boobs, such as they were. I nearly died of embarrassment.

So I grabbed Mom's Nike jacket from her closet when I went in there to get Kayly's
things, which included several changes of clothes, some sandals, and her toiletries. By the time I
got back to the kitchen, Zach had thrown what looked like every sippy cup he could lay his
hands on, plus her juice from the fridge, plus all her baby food, into a plastic grocery bag. He
also had her walker and car seat.

"Have I forgotten anything?"

"I don't think so," I said.

He gave me back my sister, picked up everything else, and we left. I locked the door, but
then had to unlock it so I could run back inside for my phone and the charger. I found them and
my bedside lamp on the floor. Luckily my cell had landed under the bed and wasn't wet. We
finally hit the road around a quarter 'til eleven.

Zach drove through McDonald's on the way to his place. I got a salad for a change. I
noticed that Zach got a whole extra meal and guessed it was for his roommate. That seemed like
a really nice thing to do, or maybe it was a peace offering for bringing home unexpected
company. In minutes, we stood at his front door. Since no one had a spare hand, Zach knocked
on it with his knee.

To say Chase looked surprised when he opened up would be the understatement of the
year. He positively sputtered as he took the food Zach thrust at him.

"Chase, this is Ally and Kayly. Girls, meet my roommate."

"So what was it?"

"Fire."

The guys exchanged a long, telling look. Chase's expression morphed from simple
surprise into, well, shock, but all he said was, "Bro, is that puke on your shirt?"

Zach looked down and laughed by way of reply, clearly not a bit concerned.

"Shower first?" he asked me, setting everything but my gym bag on the floor in the
hallway.

"Please."

He handed it to me. "Second door on the right."

"Kayly--"

"Will be fine."

I didn't argue, but slipped past Chase and headed down the hall.

I think that shower was probably the hottest, wettest, best one in my whole life. I
borrowed some of the shampoo sitting in a rack and washed the smoke from my hair and the soot
from my face. Feeling a thousand times better, I finally cut off the water and stepped onto the
bath mat.

After drying off, I chose clothing that smelled the least like smoke, which turned out to
be a pair of denim shorts and an Imogen Heap T-shirt. I started to put on make-up, but then didn't
bother. I mean, what was the point? If Zach didn't know how I really looked by now, he never
would.

When I came out of the bathroom, I heard male laughter and smelled Mennen Baby
Bath. It seemed to come from the front part of the apartment. I naturally followed my nose to the
kitchen, where I found my little sister seated in the sink and covered with bubbles. Chase, now
eating, watched from a safe distance while a shirtless Zach scrubbed her down.

Giggling, Kayly happily slapped at the water, which splashed a million tiny bubbles
onto her big brother's bare chest and face.

I stood and watched for a couple of minutes, just enjoying the view. Then Kayly saw
me. She cooed and splashed extra hard in her excitement, which made Zach duck and Chase
chuckle.

"Need some help?" I asked, moving on into the room. "If you'll hold her up, I'll rinse her
with this cup." I got one out of the dish rack sitting on the counter next to the sink.

"No, you hold her, and I'll rinse," said Zach, taking the cup.

When I tried to do as requested, I realized why he wanted to switch jobs. Slippery
baby!

"Could you have used a little more soap?" I grumbled, trying to get a decent grip on
her.

"This baby and one other will make two that I've bathed, okay?" Zach turned on the tap,
tested the water temperature, then filled the cup and began gently rinsing Kayly, starting at her
head, which greatly improved my grip on her.

By the time he got to her fat pink toes, I held her pretty high, which she loved. Zach
wrapped her in a towel. I picked up the diaper and onesy he must've laid out beforehand. In
seconds we had her presentable again.

That's when we joined Chase at the table. Zach took the rest of the food out of the sacks,
but I decided to get Kayly fed first, since my salad would keep in the fridge. I had to hold her to
feed her. We both looked around, taking in our new surroundings. I noted how cute the kitchen
was, which made me wonder if they'd had a girlfriend help decorate.