Igniting Temptation

by Sydney Canyon

  "How are you, Dr. Trotter? I thought you were in Brazil?" The older, white haired man sat back in his desk chair.

  "I came back a little early. How are you?"

  "I can't complain. I do have a question for you though." He laughed.

  "Sure?"

  "When are you looking to switch to Geriatrics?"

  "Excuse me Sir? I'm not…"

  "I'm only joking with you, Trotter. What do I owe the pleasure of this conversation with you? Don't tell me you grew lonely relaxing on a beautiful beach and had to come back to work?"

  "No, I actually came home early for other reasons and decided to put in for some personal time."

  "Aren't you on vacation?"

  "Well not technically, I rearranged my schedule and took a few personal days. I'm actually looking to take my vacation time now." Mac laughed.

  "Well I'm sure you have some. Hell, I don't think you have ever taken actual vacation days. I wish more of my staff was like you."

  "Thank you," Mac said.

  "What are you doing, if you don't mind my asking?"

  "Oh…I'm going on a sailing trip. I'm going to sail my boat up to Cape Hatteras and back."

  "That sounds like fun. I don't have any problem with you taking a few weeks."

  "Thank you, I'm going to catch up with a few things here in the office and leave Sunday, I should be back in two weeks, but I'm going to say three just to be safe."

  "No problem. Have a safe trip…and Trotter…"

  "Yes?"

  "Have fun…enjoy it while you're young." He smiled and hung up.

  ~

  "Come on Stimpy, we have one final stop and we're out of here, I still can't believe I let her talk me into leaving you with the neighbors." Mac grabbed the tiny dog, set her in the Mini Cooper and drove off. They stopped at the pet store up the road from the Marina. "Here's the deal Stimpy, you can pick out a couple of new toys. We also need to get you some food and a new t-shirt. It may be cooler up there. Oh and don't forget shampoo so we can wash your stinky butt." The little dog just looked at her, waiting to be put down so she could have free rein of the store.

  An hour later Stimpy and Mac arrived back at the boat and were ready to set sail. Stimpy was happy with her new found furry friends, but he was completely dissatisfied with her mother's taste in clothing and refused to wear the new t-shirt.

  "Goodbye, Harry. I'll see you in a few weeks." Mac yelled over to her neighbor as she untied the dock lines.

  "Have a safe trip, Mac. I still can't believe you're going to knock the barnacles off of that ol' girl!" He waved.

  Mac laughed and waved back. "She's barely six years old!"

  ~

  Twenty four hours at sea and Mac was in no hurry to get to her destination so she sat with Stimpy on the calm water, staring at the flat sails lying against the mast and the sea gulls flying freely. She had decided to save gas and not use the motor unless she had to. Unfortunately, this left her hands tied when the air was calm and she couldn't sail the boat.

  "I wish you could play cards, Stimpy, we need to pass the time. At this rate I don't think we'll make Hatteras, we may just stop in Southport for a day or two and come back." The dog looked at her and went below deck to her food dish. "Hey that's a good idea, let's have lunch." She proceeded to make a turkey sandwich, loaded with cheese, mayo, lettuce, and tomato for herself. She dropped hints of turkey and cheese on the galley floor for Stimpy, who nonchalantly grabbed them and took off to eat in private.

  "Weird ass dog, I know you have it. I threw it on the floor for you. How else do you think it got there?"

  ~

  The two story house was almost completely engulfed when the Airport Fire Station arrived. The flames were coming out of every available opening. The woman on the grass outside was screaming at the top of her lungs.

  "Please! Somebody please get my little girl out of there!"

  Captain Smith parked the fire engine as Neil, Harris, and Brown simultaneously jumped out in full turnout gear. Lawson and Vincent pulled up behind them in the ambulance.

  "Where's your daughter, Ma'am?" Captain Smith calmly asked the panicking woman.

  "She's…oh my god…pleaseee you have to get her…"

  "We will, Ma'am…you have to tell me where she is."

  "Her bedroom…second…she's upstairs…oh no…pleaseee…"

  The older man took Neil and Harris aside. "She has a young child on the second floor, by the looks of it you may not even be able to get to her."

  "At least give me a chance at it." Neil was waiting anxiously for the order to go into the burning house.

  "Turn your radio on channel two and, Neil, be careful." God Speed.

  "Come on, Harris, time to get your panties wet." The young rookie followed directly behind her and put his oxygen mask and helmet on as she did. "Can you hear me, Harris?"

  "Yes, loud and clear." The entered the first floor through the front door.

  "She's on the second floor, watch for the flames, they're getting close to the staircase. Follow me up, I'll go left, you go right."

  At the top of the stairs Neil started in the first room, she shined the light around as much as she could, but didn't see anything that resembled a child. She moved to the room next door. She noticed what looked like toys in the corner and a small bed to her left. She shined the light around the room and again didn't see anything, as she turned to exit the room she felt her pant leg move, when she shined the flashlight on the ground she found the tiny girl cradled in the corner under the bed. She had crawled out enough to grab Neil when she saw the light flash. Oh my god, how is she breathing in here? Neil grabbed the girl and yelled into her radio that was attached to her helmet.

  "I have her! I'm coming out!"

  "Copy, Neil, I'm right behind you." The firefighter exited the house first with the limp blond child in her arms. She ran directly to Lawson and Vincent. They tossed the girl in the back of the ambulance and Neil snatched her mask and helmet off and ripped the velcro shedding the yellow jacket that was covering her upper body.

  She immediately went to work trying to establish an airway on the child as Vincent started an IV.

  "We need to intubate her, now," Kylie said.

  "I don't know if I have steady enough hands," Vincent said. "Her throat is so small."

  "I'll do it," Kylie said grabbing the small tube from him. She pressed the girl's jaw down tilting her head back as she pushed the tube down her throat carefully passing her vocal cords. "I'm in," she said attaching the bag to squeeze forcing air into the little girl's lungs. "Go, Lawson, we're ready," she yelled.

  The little girl was unconscious and still not breathing on her own when they reached Hilton Head Medical Center. Neil was running next to the stretcher pressing a large bulb methodically.

  "What do we have so far?" Lyle said running up to the stretcher as Neil and Vincent pushed the girl inside. Lawson put the girl's mother in a wheelchair and pushed her into the ER behind them.

  "Severe smoke inhalation. She was conscious when I found her in her bedroom. The entire house was engulfed. I got her out as quickly as I could. She doesn't appear to have any exterior burns, but she's not breathing on her own." Neil spoke without hesitation. When she found me, god if she hadn't reached out…

  "Okay let's put her in here." They wheeled the girl into trauma room one. Lyle bent down to listen to hear breathing. "Let's get her hooked to the ventilator and get a pulse oxygen level and take blood for the lab. We also need to get portable x-ray in here as well," he said to the nurse and doctor assisting him.

  "Where's Dr. Trotter?" Neil asked quietly, wondering why the Head of Pediatrics wasn't there to assist since her life seemed to revolve around pediatric trauma.

  "She's in Brazil with Lor…uh she's on vacation," he corrected himself.

  "No she's not. I saw her a few days ago. She took a sailing trip to Cape Hatteras." The nurse spoke up as she continued to help him with the child.

  "When did she get
back from Brazil? I thought they were…"

  "She came back alone, put in for some vacation time, and took off on her boat."

  "How the hell do you know all of the gossip around here, Jennie?"

  The nurse smiled. "She only spoke to me for a second. I asked why they were back early. She simply said I'm back early and I'm taking a vacation trip to Cape Hatteras on my boat. I simply put two and two together, Lyle." He shook his head.

  The little girl was stable enough for them to establish a heartbeat finally. Happy that the girl was still alive, Neil decided to head back with Vincent and Lawson. Deep down inside she wondered why Mac had come back alone and taken off again, apparently alone.

  ~

  Three more days at sea and 'Rin' was moving smoothly through the water, splicing a beautiful line as the wind filled her sails. The salt filled air was breezing by as Stimpy hung on for dear life while Mac mastered the helm. "This is the life, Stimp!" Mac yelled down to the little dog as she followed the parallel line of the horizon.

  Late that afternoon they motored into the Southport Marina in Southport, North Carolina. As soon as she had the boat tied up in a slip Mac called information on her phone.

  She dialed the number and waited as it rang only twice. An older, male voice answered briskly with a slight southern drawl.

  "I'm trying to reach Gordon Trotter."

  "This is him. What can I do for you?"

  "Uncle Gordy, it's …" She was cut off mid sentence.

  "Well my gosh…if it isn't my favorite niece in the whole world. How ya doin,' Mackenzie Leigh?"

  She smiled from ear to ear. Her father's brother had always treated her as his child all of her life since he was unable to have children of his own.

  "I'm good. I uh…I sailed my boat up here."

  "I remember you telling me about your boat. What made you bring her this way? Don't tell me you left the hospital."

  "You know that'll never happen, Uncle Gordy, I'm finally on vacation so I decided to see what this money hole of mine was made of."

  "Well where are ya? I'm coming to see you if you're in town."

  "I just tied up at the Southport Marina."

  "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

  "Sounds good. I'm at the end of the first dock on the left."

  ~

  Mac took Stimpy with her to stay on the mainland with her uncle for a few days. They caught up on the past few months since she hadn't spoken to him since Christmas. She couldn't believe that he was aging almost identical to her father, if it wasn't for the mustache she almost couldn't tell them apart. Except, her Uncle talked with more of a southern accent than her father ever had. The older man was surprised to hear about Loren and the fiasco that Mac was put through over the past few months.

  "I'm so sorry she treated you like that, Munchkin, you deserve so much better. And here I thought she was some big time news person. Ha, what a waste of a beautiful woman."

  "Yeah, you're telling me." Mac was happy to be off of the water and sitting in a cozy two story house that her uncle had owned for thirty years. She remembered spending much of her summers up there on the coast with him while her parents traveled for vacation or business.

  "So are you seeing anyone new?" He questioned quietly.

  Gordon Trotter had always thought of Mackenzie as his daughter. He married only once and was never able to have children of his own. She left him for a man that could give her a child. This left Gordy heartbroken for a few years, until his younger brother's wife had a baby girl. Mackenzie became the light in his eyes. He was an outstanding figure in her life from her first steps, through her brother's death, all the way to her college graduation. She always thought of him as a second father even though her own father was still alive and very much a part of her life.

  "Well…" Technically she was single, as single as it gets.

  "Cat got your tongue?" He smiled. "Out with it, Mackenzie. I'm not your old man. You can't shy away from me." He smiled once more. She knew he was right, Uncle Gordy could always tell when something was on her mind.

  "I was…sort of…uh seeing someone… before Loren's accident."

  "Okay…"

  "I broke it off and pushed her away to go be with Loren. She needed me and that's all that mattered…"

  "Was it serious?"

  "I guess…hell I don't know anymore…that was then."

  "And now?"

  "I realize it was huge mistake, but I broke the other woman's heart. I cut all ties with her practically overnight. I never meant for things to be like that." Mac fought back a tear, but it relentlessly escaped and slid down her cheek.

  "Do you love her?" He sipped his tea as he sat back in his oversized and well-worn recliner, slightly chewing his gray mustache.

  "Yes…I discovered that a little too late though."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I never knew how I really felt about her until I was back with Loren and in Brazil."

  "Well you're home now, Munchkin. You need to tell that poor girl how you feel."

  "It's not that easy, Uncle Gordy."

  "Sure it is. Hell you haven't even told me about her…shame on you."

  Mac smiled shyly. "Uh…"

  "Her name, Mackenzie…what's her name?"

  "Kylie…Kylie Neil."

  "There ya go, that's a start. She's not another news geek is she?" He grinned.

  "No, she's a firefighter, a lieutenant actually."

  His eye brows shot up. "My my, that's certainly different. I thought you swore you would never be with someone in your field?"

  "Well technically we're not in the same field. I didn't even meet her at the hospital." She laughed thinking about how she met the gregarious woman. "I met her went I went to vote for the new mayor. My voting precinct is at the fire station."

  "I see."

  "She came after me and I explained my situation with Loren and we became good friends. After I left Loren we …we just sort of slowly got together."

  "I bet she's a looker, you always do pick the prettiest girls that I have ever seen."

  "She's definitely the complete opposite of Loren that's for sure. She's very tiny, maybe five foot three with her work boots on and a hundred fifteen pounds soaking wet."

  "Wow and she's a firefighter?"

  "Yeah I know, I could carry her with one arm and I'm not much bigger than she is. Anyway, she has stunning Black Irish good looks. The most amazing blue eyes and long curly black hair that stops just past her shoulders and she's almost as tan as me, but not quite."

  "Sounds like she's beautiful, Munchkin." Mac smiled ear to ear. She always felt like she was ten again when he used the pet name for her.

  "Yeah…too bad I wrecked everything." The smile quickly faded.

  "The hell you did, now listen to yourself. Mackenzie, you're the brightest and most amazing person that I know. She has to see that side of you and know that you made a mistake."

  "Yeah but I made a huge mistake and broke her heart."

  "Hearts mend, people make mistakes. It's part of being human."

  "I…" She let out a long sigh. "I don't think she's into second chances." Mac stared at the old shag looking rug under her feet covering part of the hardwood floor.

  "If she loves you she will be."

  "I don't know if she loves me, we…we weren't together very long."

  "It doesn't take long to love someone, although it may take some people years to realize it."

  "Gee thanks…"

  "Cheer up, Munchkin, I'm sure everything will work out. You my darlin,' know more about pain than most people ever will."

  She knew deep down he was right. Even after all of those years she still missed her brother and could remember everything from his brief childhood through his death. "Do you ever…I mean…I miss him…"

  "I know you do, Munchkin…"

  "Mom and Dad…they never…"

  "It's hard for them to talk about it. It seems like the only time I hear Gregory's name i
s during the holidays."

  "I know, it tears me up…he was my best friend…"

  "That little boy admired you so much. He wanted to be just like you. I still remember him running around at Christmas mimicking everything you did with your new toys. He was always more interested in what you had or what you were doing."

  "I know it. He drove me nuts, but I always included him no matter what I was doing," she said as a small tear fell from her eye.

  "It's good to talk about him and remember. I'm sorry your parents don't do more of that. It's healthy and hell, it keeps you sane. I'll be right back. I have just the thing to cheer you up. You remember when I went to Europe for vacation a few years ago?"

  "Yeah, why?" She looked at the old man quizzically.

  "I picked this up for us while I was there. I keep forgetting to bring it with me during the holidays." He returned with a small, ripe, old bottle of brandy and two snifters.

  "That looks good! I can't believe you were holding out on me, Uncle Gordy. You know how much I like that stuff." She crossed the room and sat at the kitchen table with him.

  They drank most of the bottle and continued to talk about life. Mac crawled into the bed in the spare room downstairs after midnight. She had to literally push the snoring little Chihuahua to the other side of the bed so she could lay down.

  The next morning she prepared to motor the large sailboat out of the harbor and back to the open sea. Stimpy walked around the cockpit with her lifejacket on and lanyard that kept her tied to the lifelines for safety. Mac leaned back against the cushion and steered the wheel. She was a little chilly, dressed in khaki colored nylon shorts with a small white and blue windbreaker over her tee shirt. She choose to wear her brown leather boat shoes instead of her sailing sneakers. She threw a white ball cap over her short blond hair and put on her sunglasses before waving goodbye to her uncle who was standing on the dock.

  ~

  Back at sea for the third day in a row, Mac and Stimpy were on their way home. She wasn't sure, but she was beginning to the think the little dog preferred to be on the boat than on land. She quickly set the autopilot and went below deck to make lunch.