Rory: Hope City, Book 7

by Maryann Jordan

  “My baby!” Chloe cried, straining to look toward Shania. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine, he’s fine,” Shania assured just as the baby gave a loud wail. Bending, she placed the baby on the woman’s chest. The woman opened her blouse and nestled the infant against her breast.

  Rory grabbed another sterile pad and placed it over them to keep them warm. As Shania worked on extracting the afterbirth, Rory looked up toward Blay and gave another nod. Blay and Bill headed to the ambulance to get the gurney. They carried it through the front door and set it close by.

  Working together a few minutes later, they managed to get Chloe and the baby safely strapped onto the gurney. Rory and Blay maneuvered the gurney down the front steps to the ambulance while Bill assisted Shania and Bobby in gathering all their equipment. Shania questioned the neighbor to make sure she was staying with the small child before they tossed their thanks to the firemen and climbed into the ambulance.

  Driving to the hospital, Shania called in their location and ETA. Once there, they made the transfer of Chloe and the baby into the emergency room. “You did real good, Chloe,” Rory said, patting her shoulder before gently touching her baby’s cheek. After completing the paperwork, Bobby climbed back into the back of the ambulance and Rory and Shania swung up into the front.

  Driving back to the station, he glanced to the side and saw Shania grinning widely. “Are you remembering becoming a mom?”

  She chuckled and nodded. “We see a lot of shit in this job, Rory. It’s always nice when you can see something as wonderful as a healthy baby being born.”

  He nodded.

  “What about you? Do you want to have children?”

  Startled at her question, he nodded again. “Yeah, someday. After I find the right person and the timing is right.”

  She barked out a laugh and shook her head. “First of all, the time is never right. There’s never enough money, never enough energy, never enough time. And when it comes to the right person, make sure to find someone who can make you laugh. A woman whose smile is wide, whose eyes are pinned on you when you talk, and won’t put up with your shit. That makes a good wife, and in my opinion, would make a good mom.”

  He had no response, so he kept his mouth shut. But for the rest of the drive to the station, the image of Sandy filled his mind.

  “I think you should just take an office here, it’d be easier on you,” Heather laughed, handing Sandy a hard hat.

  Smiling, she nodded before walking to the elevator. She left Todd on the first floor to meet with Dave to go over the office plans for that level. She and Barbara were getting off on the fourth floor to look over the work that had been completed. She wanted to assure that the design elements were being implemented correctly and check to see if any adjustments needed to be made. Barbara would ascertain if her decorating choices still felt correct for the space and light. Being able to see the natural light coming through the windows could change the aesthetics.

  With plans in front of her, Sandy carefully inspected the interior walls, doors, and windows. She loved the flow of the rooms, pleased that the individual clients had allowed her to lead them through the process of designing their offices.

  “Sandy? Can you come into the workroom?”

  Following Barbara’s voice, she stepped into the area that would be the workroom. “Did you need me?”

  “Look at this!”

  Stepping over to one of the inner walls, she looked in the direction Barbara was pointing. Cabinets would be placed along the wall, both on the floor and higher, leaving an area for a counter. The client had indicated that this room would be a break room and multiple electrical outlets would be needed for an industrial-sized coffee maker and large microwave as well as a refrigerator and any other appliances the employees would want to be plugged in. At this time, the walls were bare except for the open outlets filled with wires.

  Leaning closer, she observed there were no copper ground wires. Instead of two black wires and two white wires, there was a mess of other multicolored wires crammed inside the small box. “Well, I’m not an electrician, but that doesn’t look right.”

  She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, then said, “Whenever you get finished up here, you can go on down with Todd. I’m going to see if I can find someone from Perkins Electrical Company and see if they can tell me what’s going on here.”

  She walked out of the office-to-be area and down the hall to an empty space with just the outer walls complete. Seeing several men around, she moved to them, looking for anyone with the electrical company logo on their shirt. “Do you know where I might find someone from Perkins Electrical?”

  “Last I saw, Jonny was on the fifth floor,” one of the men replied. “That was about half an hour ago.”

  Smiling her thanks, she skipped the elevator and walked up the stairs to the next floor. Walking around for several minutes, she finally found a short, heavy-set man sitting on an upturned bucket in the middle of the floor with his lunch spread on his lap and his drink sitting on the floor next to him. Seeing the Perkins Electrical logo on his shirt, she smiled as she approached. “Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your lunch, but I wanted to ask you about the—”

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Maintaining her calm in the face of his rudeness, she replied, “I’m Ms. Carmichael, the interior designer for the offices in this building. I was just in office 4-C, specifically in the workroom, when I noticed the wiring in outlets.” Pulling out her phone, she quickly scrolled to the photograph of the outlet she had just seen. “This is one, like many in the area, and I wanted to know when they might be finished.”

  “Why are you taking pictures of the outlets? That’s got nothing to do with you.”

  “It does when I’m looking at the health and safety of the people that will be occupying the office,” she replied, her voice gaining an edge.

  “Look, lady, you’ve got no idea what you’re looking at. I understand the wiring, and you understand making shit pretty. I’m not going to tell you your business, so get the fuck out of mine.”

  She held his gaze without saying a word for so long, he finally squirmed on his bucket seat. Lifting a hand, he wiped his mouth, and she could see thoughts working behind his eyes as though he was trying to figure out how far to push her.

  “A lady never raises her voice in anger but can always find a way to express her displeasure.” A slow, Grinch-like smile curved the edges of her lips. Bending, she leaned closer. “I’ll be more than happy to stay out of your business just as soon as I’m satisfied that you do know what you’re doing. Until then… enjoy your lunch.” Standing straight, she looked down her nose at him, something she rarely got to enjoy considering her short stature. Turning on her heel, she moved to the elevator and went down to the first floor.

  Finding Dave in the office with Todd, she waited until they completed their discussion, then jumped in. “Everything in 4-C looks good except for the electrical outlets. I’ve taken several pictures, and I just had a rather unproductive—and I might say rude—conversation with Jonny from Perkins Electrical. I don’t trust him, and I don’t trust whoever might be coming behind him in a supervisory capacity that would be signing off on his work. Therefore, I hate to throw more duties on to you, Dave, but you’re going to have to inspect his work as he goes.” As she spoke, she turned her phone around and showed him the photograph as well.

  “Damn,” he grumbled. “I’ve already talked to him once. I’ll get with his supervisor and talk to him.” Holding her gaze intensely, he added, “You don’t have to put up with his mouth, Ms. Carmichael.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Oh, believe me, I know. My grandmother always told me to not get loud when angry, so I learned at an early age to make my point well known.”

  Todd walked over, chuckling. “I can attest that she knows exactly how to make a point.”

  She hesitated, uncertain how much to say. She caught Dave’s concerned expression and quickl
y said, “Don’t worry about me. It’s the job site and my work that I’m concerned about.”

  His brow furrowed as he shook his head. “You need to let me handle this. It’s not your place, Ms. Carmichael. We each have our jobs to do, and while you don’t need to be disrespected, you also don’t need to push the contractors.”

  She sucked in her lips, uncertain if he was worried for her or about her. “Okay… I’m really just trying to cover all our bases.”

  Dave’s jaw tightened, and he nodded. “Thanks for the info, Ms. Carmichael. I’m going to look into it and then get with Anthony. The last thing we want is for a problem with this building.”

  Saying goodbye, she, Barbara, and Todd walked outside to her SUV. Once driving, Todd glanced to the side and asked, “You okay, boss?”

  She scrunched her nose. “Yeah, I guess. I wish that I had more confidence that Dave will truly keep an eye on Perkins. Plus, Anthony asked me out for a working dinner again.”

  “What did you tell him?” Barbara asked from the back seat.

  “I wasn’t going to accept, but now I wonder if I should and bring up the issue with Perkins Electrical.”

  Todd snorted. “That’s romantic!”

  “It’s not supposed to be romantic! It would be a working dinner only.”

  “Well, I think it’s high time you got a little somethin’ somethin’,” he quipped.

  She rolled her eyes but remained quiet. As she parked in front of their office, her stomach growled. “I’m going to grab a sandwich. Anyone interested?” After getting their requests, she walked into the sandwich shop nearby. Placing their orders, she glanced around, glad that the restaurant was almost empty. Chatting with the cashier, she jerked when a scream rang out from behind the counter.

  “Oh, my God!” the cashier cried, and Sandy looked over in horror as one of the women slicing deli meat held up her severely cut hand, still screaming as blood streamed from the wound.

  “Oh, Jesus!” she cried, rushing around the counter past the immobile cashier toward the injured woman. “Call for help!” she cried. She knew little about first aid but felt certain that putting pressure on a bleeding wound was the proper treatment. Whirling around, her gaze landed on a small stack of tea towels. Grabbing a handful, she helped the still-screaming woman to the floor and wrapped her hand in the towels, applying pressure. Twisting her head, she was about to yell for help again when she heard the cashier on the phone.

  “My coworker cut herself! There’s a lot of blood! You’ve got to come!” she babbled, managing to get the address blurted out.

  Looking back down, she could see that blood was seeping through the towels and she cradled the woman’s hand against her body to try to stem the flow. In only a few more seconds, Sandy heard sirens, thankful the station was just at the end of the street.

  The bell over the door rang, and the cashier cried, “Over here. They’re over here!”

  A pair of gloved hands moved in and gently took the injured woman’s arm from Sandy’s grip. “We’ve got this, ma’am. Are you injured as well?”

  She slid out of the way and shook her head. “No… I… no…”

  Blood covered the floor, and as she scrambled to make way for the paramedics, her knees slipped in the blood before finally she pushed herself to a wobbly stand.

  “Sandy, fuck!”

  At the sound of a man’s curse, she looked up, seeing Rory staring wide-eyed at her. Glancing down, she realized there was a lot of blood on her blouse, pants, and hands. Lifting her gaze back to him, she felt the world go black from the edges of her vision to a pinprick in front of her. That was the last thing she remembered.

  13

  Rory was at the end of his shift when the call came in for a workplace laceration. Recognizing the address as the sandwich shop from down the street, he jogged down the sidewalk, following the ambulance, determined to assist if needed.

  Once inside, he recognized the cashier, pale and shaking as she tried to explain what happened to the EMT on duty. The paramedic was already behind the counter assisting the injured woman, and as he walked around, his feet stuttered to a halt as he looked up and saw Sandy coming to a stand, covered in blood. “Sandy, fuck!” he cried out, having no idea if it was her blood or not.

  Her eyes lifted to his, and he watched as her face turned white, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she crumpled into a faint. He instantly scanned the scene in front of him and ascertained the two paramedics needed no assistance with the injured woman. Racing around to the other side of the counter, he leaped over the boxes in the way and dropped to his knees next to Sandy. Her head had landed on a cardboard box, the only thing that had kept her from slamming onto the hard floor.

  Suzanne, one of the paramedics on shift, looked over and said, “I don’t know if she works here or not. She was putting pressure on the wound. I don’t think she was injured. Probably she just fainted.” She handed him an extra blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.

  The bell over the door rang again, and not only did a couple of firemen enter to assist but the man who had once bought Rory lunch and indicated he worked for Carmichael Designs rushed in as well.

  “Rosie, what’s going on? Sandy came to get food and didn’t come back. The next thing I see is all these rescue workers rushing in!”

  “It was Joan! She got cut, and oh, my God, there was blood everywhere! I didn’t know what to do, but Ms. Carmichael was here and jumped in to help! But then she fainted dead away over there!”

  Before Rory could say anything, the man leaned over the counter and spied an unconscious Sandy in her bloody clothes. He rushed around and dropped to his knees next to Rory, who was attempting to take her blood pressure.

  “Oh, damn! Please tell me this isn’t her blood!”

  Not paying attention to the man next to him, he said, “No, sir, the blood is from the woman she was helping. Now, please, stay back.”

  Instead of moving away, the man stayed close. “My name is Todd. Todd Patterson. I work with her. Sandy hates blood! I can’t believe she didn’t pass out right away! She passes out even when she has a blood test. In fact, if someone’s even talking about blood, she passes out.”

  Rory finally managed to get her blood pressure, noticing it had dropped, which was not unusual with someone who fainted. Her pulse was good, and he grabbed an ammonia capsule from the kit supplied by Suzanne. Waving it in front of her nose, he watched as her eyes blinked open and she gasped to take a deep breath.

  “Wh… what…”

  Sandy attempted to sit up, and Rory placed his hand on her back. “Hang on there, Sandy. Sit up very slowly.” Earlier her lips had been solid white, but now a touch of pink was beginning to color them. “Your color is coming back. Heartbeat is steady, and in just a few minutes, I’ll get your blood pressure again.”

  One of the firemen tried to get Todd to move again, but he insisted on staying. “She needs to see a familiar face when she wakes up.”

  “Rory?” Her voice was unsteady and she looked up into his face. Her gaze dropped to her clothing, and she groaned.

  “Sandy, don’t look,” Rory said, afraid she was going to pass out again. “Just focus on me and I’ll get you outta here.”

  “Oh, my, I had no idea you two knew each other.” Todd grinned at Rory before dropping his gaze to Sandy. “Boss lady, I think you’re in good hands. If this man says he’s going to get you outta here, I think that’s exactly what needs to happen.”

  “Joan?” she mumbled.

  “She’s going by ambulance to the hospital. She’ll need stitches and they can evaluate her further. We’re going to get out of here so Rosie can lock up after us and get things cleaned up. I’m off duty, and I’m gonna take you home. You stay here with your friend while I go get my truck.” Assuring himself that she wasn’t going to faint again, he jogged back to the station, reporting to the captain on duty. Quickly driving his truck back to the sandwich shop, he hurried inside.

  Todd clapped him on the ba
ck. “I’m holding you personally responsible for the boss lady.” He turned and looked toward Rosie and called out, “I’m heading back to the office. If you or Joan need anything, you give us a call.” With that, he scooted around the firemen standing by the door and disappeared.

  Rory scooped her into his arms and carried her out, gently placing her in the passenger seat of his truck. Climbing behind the wheel, he was reminded of the last time he drove her home. Then, he was filled with a combination of fear, anger, and surprise. This time, he was filled with anticipation and determination.

  Easily remembering where she lived, he soon pulled into a parking space in front of her townhouse. She had stayed quiet on the drive home, and he shifted in his seat to look at her. “Are you okay, Sandy?”

  “This is so embarrassing.”

  Surprised at her comment, he asked, “What’s embarrassing?”

  “Fainting.” She spared a glance his way, then looked back toward the front windshield, shaking her head. “You deal with this all the time, but for as long as I can remember, the idea of blood makes me woozy.”

  “Hey, there’s a lot of people that pass out when they see blood. Listen, we can talk once we get inside your house. Right now, stay where you are, and I’ll come around to get you.” He climbed from the driver’s seat and hustled around the front of his truck. As he opened her door, she turned to swing her legs outward, but he scooped her up once again.

  “I can walk,” she insisted.

  “I’m sure you probably can, but I’ve already seen you hit the floor once today, and I’d rather not have you do that again out here on the concrete. Let’s get you in where I know you’ll be safe.” She didn’t protest but instead threw one arm around his neck, and he took that as a positive sign. Setting her feet on the top step of her stoop, he took her keys and opened the front door. Assisting her inside, he started to set her on the sofa when she cried out. “No! I don’t want to get blood anywhere!”