White-Hot Christmas (18 page)

He started laughing. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

She grinned. That was how she wanted to remember him, laughing, a teasing light in his eyes. She bent forward and kissed him quickly, lingering ever so slightly, then pulled back and got out of the car. There was nothing more to be said. She ran over to the house and let herself in, not looking back.

Inside, she leaned against the door, waiting. For a moment, there was no sound. Then she heard the engine rev and the scrunch of tyres on gravel. The car went down the drive, and she heard it disappear up the main road.

Footsteps came along the hall and Bree appeared, rubbing her eyes. “Oh hi! You’re early!” She stopped, looking at Merle’s face. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” said Merle. Then she pressed a hand to her mouth and burst into tears.

Bree led her to the kitchen table and made her a cup of tea, then sat beside her and handed her tissues as she made Merle tell her what had happened.

“I should have known it was a bad idea, you staying there.” She sighed as Merle wiped away the tears, only to have more take their place.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Merle sniffed. “I only had myself to blame. I shouldn’t have stayed, but I couldn’t say no. We had such a good time, I thought…”

“What?”

“I thought he… I don’t know.”

“Loved you?”

“Maybe.” She wiped her face again and tried to smile. “Stupid, eh? I’ve only known him for a week.”

Bree studied her. “I think he does love you, in his own, crazy, anti-commitment way. It certainly showed in his eyes the other day at the restaurant. But Merle, even if he does, did you think he’d say it? He knows you’re going away. He knows your life is in England, that you would never leave Mum. I mean, it was never going to work, was it?”

“I know, I know…” Merle put her face in her hands and drew a long, shaky sigh. “God, I’m so stupid…”

“You’re not stupid, you’re in love.”
 

Merle looked up. Jake had appeared, hands in his pockets.

Merle blinked at her. “In love?”

“Well, duh.” Bree rolled her eyes. “Did you tell him you loved him?”

“No. I wouldn’t have done that. I saw how he was when he was on the phone to Ella. He hated it. I wasn’t going to do that to him.”

Bree glanced at Jake, who turned and walked out of the room. She sighed, frowning. “What a bloody, complicated mess. I’m to blame for introducing you in the first place and putting that stupid idea in your head about sleeping with someone. I never thought it would lead to this.”

“I’ll be okay. I’m sorry to turn up on your doorstep like this. But I will get over him. It was a shock this morning, it was horrible leaving him, that’s all. I’ll be fine.”

Merle spent the morning curled up on the sofa, watching TV, her gaze drifting to the rain outside. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Neon was doing. Was he out on a call or sitting in the station, doing paperwork? Was he thinking of her at all?

She didn’t want any lunch. Bree fussed around her, bringing her drinks. When Jake went into town, Bree decided to stay behind. Merle didn’t object. She didn’t want to be alone.

When Jake came back, Merle heard him discussing something in the kitchen with Bree. She sat up. Bree was watching her, brow furrowed. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Bree smiled.

“Bree… I’m not stupid.”

Her sister sighed. Jake came over and kissed the top of Merle’s head. “The fire alarm went off while I was in town. All the engines are out and so are all the ambulances from St John’s. It must be quite a big emergency.”

Merle’s eyes met Bree’s. She swallowed. “Would he have gone out with them?”

Jake nodded. “Probably. But he’ll be fine, Merle. He plays more of an observing role now. He won’t be on the front line.”

She said nothing, lying back on the sofa, watching the rain again. It was ridiculous to be worried. He wasn’t her man. He wasn’t hers to worry about. And it was his job, for Christ’s sake. He knew what he was doing.

Three hours went by, and it was still raining. Merle read a magazine and watched a chat show, although she couldn’t have told Bree anything about either of them. Then she went into the bedroom and lay on the bed, looking out at the sodden garden, the dripping palms. She felt knotted inside, and her head was spinning. She wished she were flying back to the UK that night. Not because she wanted to leave New Zealand—she ached at the thought. And it wasn’t just because of Neon. She had grown to love the country, and it was going to be difficult to say goodbye to her sister. But she thought she had an inkling of how it might feel to be someone who was about to be beheaded at the Tower. You always hoped for a last-minute reprieve, but deep down you knew it wasn’t going to happen, and in the end, you wanted to step up to the block and feel the cold blade on your neck and know it was all over.

There was a knock at the front door. Merle stiffened and walked into the living room to hover in the doorway, meeting Jake’s eyes where he sat in the chair, reading. She heard voices, and Bree appeared with Julia close behind.

Julia stopped when she saw Merle, smiled, came over and kissed her on the cheek. “Hello, Merle.”

“Hi, Julia.”

Neon’s mother followed Bree to the sofa and sat. Merle hesitated, then perched on the arm of one of the chairs.

“I’ve heard from Neon,” said Julia. “He gave me a quick ring and I thought you might want to know what’s going on.”

Jake nodded. “I heard the sirens.”

“There’s been an accident on State Highway Ten at Bulls Gorge. A busload of tourists crashed. They think it was due to the bad weather. It veered off the road, taking a couple of cars with it and rolled, and it’s now upside down.”

“Oh no.” Both Merle and Bree covered their mouths.

“The bus was full. The driver of one of the cars is dead, and a couple of the bus passengers have died. They’ve got most of the passengers out, but there’s some problem with the last section of the bus. Something’s collapsed or been crushed, and they’re trapped. And there are children in there.”

Merle stood and walked over to the window, her arms wrapped around her body, looking out at the rain. She stayed there as the others discussed the accident, her mind whirling, thinking of Neon out there in this awful weather, trying to deal with such a horrendous event. Part of her felt a swell of pride. He would be calm and organised, and would do his utmost to get everyone out safely. Hopefully he would look after himself and not take any unnecessary risks. She turned as Julia spoke.

“Would you mind if I stayed here for a bit?” Julia said. “Pierre’s gone to Auckland and the house is so quiet!”

Bree leaned over and kissed her. “Of course not. I’ll put the kettle on.”

Merle continued to look out at the rain as she heard Bree bustling around in the kitchen. After a few minutes, she felt a presence at her side and turned to see Julia standing there, looking at her.

“Are you okay?” Julia said. “You look very pale.”

Merle nodded, touched Julia had asked. “I’m fine, thank you.”

Julia’s eyes were wide and brown, very like her son’s. “Did you say goodbye this morning?”

Merle nodded. Unbidden, a rush of tears came into her eyes, and she bit her lip hard, turning her head. Julia sighed, came up and put her arm around her. Merle couldn’t stop a tear falling down her cheek, and she cursed as she wiped it away. “Sorry,” she said, giving a small smile. “You must have to do this with a lot of Neon’s girls.”

Julia gave her a funny look. “Sweetheart, you’re not just one of his ‘girls’. I assumed you knew that.”

Merle frowned. “Thank you for being so sweet. But we both knew it was just a quick fling when we got together.”

Julia studied Merle, her face expressionless. “What did he say to you this morning?”

Merle blinked, wiping away another tear, annoyed with herself. “He didn’t say anything. I didn’t expect him to, Julia.”

Julia turned and looked out of the window. She gave a small, ironic laugh. “My son’s an idiot.” Her eyes came back to Merle’s, and she sighed, but she didn’t say any more.

At that moment, Bree brought over two mugs of tea, and Julia took hers and sat. Merle sipped hers, wondering what Julia had meant. She would probably never find out. She looked out at the rain. Tomorrow she would be out of here, and maybe then she could get on with her life.

Another hour and a half went by. Bree prepared some tea, and they all nibbled—apart from Jake whose appetite was almost as big as Neon’s—and tried to watch TV.

They paid more attention when the news finally came on. The accident was the third story, and there were already camera crews there. The four of them sat on the edge of their seats as they saw the scene from a helicopter, gasping at the sight of the bus crumpled at the base of the bank. The camera cut to a reporter, who stood with a firefighter on the edge of the scene.

“This is Chief Fire Officer John Wright. He’s been here since this morning, and he’s going to give us an update on what’s happening with the passengers still trapped in the bus.” The reporter held the microphone to the CFO.

“We’re currently in the process of trying to get the last few people out of the bus,” Wright said. “We’re working against the clock. The section is right above the fuel tank. We’re worried about the bus catching fire.”

“How many people are in there?”

“Four, as far as we can make out. One man, one woman, and two children. We’ve already pulled the children’s mother out, and she’s unconscious. An ambulance took her to hospital. The two children are conscious and very frightened.”

“So what’s stopping you getting to them?”

“The bus has been crushed, and we’re trying to cut through the metal, but it’s taking longer than we thought, and we’re now worried about the risk of fire. My SSO has volunteered to try and crawl in the gap we’ve managed to make and get them out, but it’s not going to be easy.”

In the living room, the four of them looked at each other. Merle blinked. SSO? Senior station officer?

The reporter pressed her hand to her ear, then turned toward the bus. “I’m hearing there’s movement in the bus. Yes, I can see a hand coming out the side there—it’s one of the children, a little girl by the looks of it, she’s coming out, she looks okay, she’s moving…” The camera captured the firefighters pulling out the little girl and transferring her to the waiting ambulance.

The reporter craned her neck. “Here comes someone else, it’s a woman, she’s out, she looks okay—and here’s another person, yes it’s the man, that leaves the other child, he’s the only one left inside…”

At that moment, there was a bang on the TV and shouts echoed from the upturned bus. Fire roared, and smoke billowed into the rain. “Excuse me,” said the CFO, running down the hill.

“Oh no.” Julia sat with both hands over her mouth. Merle watched, horrified.

“The bus has caught fire,” said the reporter, “and we know there’s a firefighter inside, trying to get the remaining passenger out.” The camera captured the scene, with the firefighters pouring water onto the fire, others bending by the side of the gap, trying to reach inside.

Merle’s heart was pounding. This was too horrible. Poor Julia. Neon’s mum sat with her gaze fixed on the screen, tears pouring down her face. Merle went over and sat beside her, putting an arm around her.

The reporter was narrating the event. “There’s no sign of movement yet, we know there’s a child inside with the firefighter. The smoke’s starting to billow out now, and the fire’s raging, in spite of the rain. No, hold on, I can see movement. The other firefighters are reaching in for something, yes, they’ve got a figure, I can see them cradling a head—it’s the other child, the boy, but he’s not moving—they’re pulling him out of the window now, straight onto a stretcher, and they are transferring him to an ambulance, but he’s not moving.” The camera went back to the bus. “And there’s the firefighter, look. He’s coming through the window. They’re pulling him out—he looks okay. Goodness, what tension here in the Northland.” The camera swung back to the reporter. “Well, it looks like everyone’s finally out of the bus, so it’s back to you in the studio and we’ll give you an update shortly when we know more.”

Julia stood and went over to the window again, brushing her face. Merle followed her and put her arms around her. “It’s okay, he’s all right, we saw him get out, he’s going to be okay…”

“I know.” Julia leaned her head on Merle’s shoulder. “It’s so awful. I can’t bear to think what he has to go through. Why does he have to volunteer for everything?”

Merle stroked her hair, tears pouring down her own face. “He’ll be all right. He’s made of stern stuff. And he loves his job, Julia, this is what he wants to do, he wants to be on the front line. It’s what makes him the man he is. You’ve done such a good job bringing him up. He wouldn’t be the man he is without you.”

Julia sniffed, then gave a little laugh. “That’s a nice thing to say. Thank you.”

Merle laughed back, wiping her face. “You’re very welcome. And how much would he love this, eh? All of us crying over him?”

“For God’s sake, don’t tell him,” said Bree, brushing away her own tears.

They sat back on the sofa, talking about the accident and drinking tea for another hour and a half before Julia’s mobile finally rang. It was nearly eight o’clock by then, two and a half hours after Neon’s shift should have finished. Julia jumped, grabbed the phone from the table and flipped it up.

Chapter Fifteen

“Hello?” Julia looked at the other three and nodded. “Hello, darling, how are you, are you all right? We saw you on TV, the accident was on the news. You gave us quite a fright. How’s the last child? Oh. At Whangarei? And their mother? Well, that’s something at least. Where are you now? It’s nearly eight. Okay. No, you go, thanks for calling, I’ll see you later.” She hung up. “He had to go, the CFO was calling him.” She gave a big sigh. “He sounds okay, very tired. The child is unconscious, but he is alive. He’s in intensive care. The mother’s come around though, which is something. The fire’s out, so they’re coming back for the night now. He’ll be at the station in twenty minutes.”