Heartburn

by M. C. Cerny

  “Officer Rooney?” I said.

  “Lia.” He walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders holding me up.

  “He’s in there.” I pointed down the hall and he nodded.

  “I know. He’s listed me as his contact. He has for years.”

  I shook and whimpered. “I don’t know anything.”

  “I know. It’s going to be a while before they tell us anything. Let’s go get some food and take care of you.”

  I’m shaking my head no. “I can’t, the nurse said she’d come back and I promised to stay right here.” Tear overwhelmed me.

  “Hey, shhh. It’s gonna be okay.” He directed me down the hall and toward a restroom. I slipped inside and used it quickly washing my hands and face fixing my messy hair. I didn’t care how I looked, but I felt like I couldn’t go on without refreshing myself. Patiently, Officer Rooney waited outside.

  “They’re going to page me when we can get back there to see him, but you and I young lady are going to discuss what you were doing up there.” He took my arm and guided me toward a table inside the cafeteria.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me see your camera.” He held his hand out and I automatically handed it over. I’ve done nothing wrong and while he isn’t accusing me of anything I have to wonder why he wants to see it.

  “Officer Rooney…” I started to explain.

  “Call me Evan. Now, how did you know about the fire?”

  “I heard about it from my roommate and knew he was working. I drove up thinking I could find him.”

  His brow furrowed. “The girl who got lost the first time.” He deadpanned. I’d never live that down.

  “Har, har. I know. I just had this bad feeling I couldn’t shake.”

  Evan scanned the room before speaking. “I’m not supposed to say this, but I think the controlled fire spot was tampered with.”

  “How do you know?” I responded.

  “I took an arson class at the academy knowing I would work up here someday. I’m no expert, but it definitely looks like a second accelerant was used.”

  “From what?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know that I’m going to need your photos as evidence because they document the flames and the digital timestamp of the photos shows the progression go from zero to crazy in basically no time at all.”

  “That would be the accelerant?” I didn’t understand what he was talking about but I would help in whatever way I could.

  “Yes.”

  “You can have the camera.” I told him.

  “Just the memory card.” He popped it out of the camera. “Do you have another?” He asked. I nodded riffling through my bag letting him pocket the photos I took earlier.

  “Yeah, right here.” I take it from my purse and put it in the camera.

  Evan held out his hand to stop me in mid ramble while he looked at his phone. “The nurse is paging me. We’ll get these photos sorted later. We can go up and see him now.”

  “Oh thank god.” My whole body relaxed in a slump. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but seeing him would make it just a fraction better.

  The nurse waited for us to arrive at the entrance to the floor. He isn’t in the ICU which was a good thing, but the amount of tubing and wires connected to him the second I walked in make me think of some science fiction nightmare.

  “Oh my god.” I tried to rush his bedside, but Evan grabbed me to stop.

  “Hold up. Those are just the breathing tubes since he inhaled a lot of smoke. He’s okay. It looks worse than it is.” Evan gave me a little shake to calm me down. When I finally pulled it together and nod affirmatively, he lets me go. I sat down in the chair next to his side and take his hand, still dirty from the fire, his body a smelly mixture of smoke and hospital antiseptic stung my nose.

  Evan’s hand rested on my shoulder, a calming force. “Scared the shit out of me dude.” His voice was gruff and my throat seized in a choke. We’re the only one’s here and even though I’m only a couple hours’ drive from my parents and my sister it felt like a thousand miles because of the distance I put between us. I can’t imagine how it’s been for Whit whose parents and his only living relative are gone.

  “Maybe we should contact them. His friends. My phone, it’s not really working in here.”

  “I’ll do that. They’ll probably need to come in and check on him so I’ll tell everyone to wait until tomorrow to come bombard the place. Okay?”

  I managed to give Evan a watery smile. He left texting on his phone letting everyone know that Whit’s going to be fine. I won’t be, but that’s another story for another day.

  I parked myself in a chair watching him sleep. Nurses checked on him, removed some of the tubes once he was breathing on his own. The handed me some washcloths when I asked to clean him up with warm water and soap. I can’t say I’ll ever make a good nurse, but I felt a measure of relief seeing his face clean from the dirt and his hands back to their normal tan hue. A sneaky peak under the blankets and I see he’s naked as a baby under the sad looking hospital gown. All those jokes about Whit wanting to role play doctor and nurse made my stomach churn because this was the real deal

  28

  Whit

  I rolled over feeling every bit my age. Dry throat, smoke inhalation and burns on my legs and arms from fighting to get out of the fire that turned on us. Something happened during the control fire that I don’t have answers for. My stomach cramped wondering what the hell happened out there. Turning to my left, I glimpsed those purple strands I’ve come to love so damn much. Lia’s head rested on the edge of the bed and my hand tangled in her hair wrapping the strands around my fingers keeping her trapped there. She must have been so uncomfortable leaning over from the chair to the bed, her neck angled oddly. I mused how lucky I was that she was there and untangled my fingers slowly so I didn’t tug too hard and hurt her. My hand rested on her head and reached farther cupping the back of her neck. Her pulse was strong under my fingertips. Poor baby must have been exhausted.

  “Good Morning, Mr. Jones.” I turned back to the right watching a nurse write her name, Nina, on the white board. She looked old enough to be my mother and she smiled at me nodding to the lump of Lia hunched protectively at my side.

  I’m coughing and attempting to lean up when she pushes me back down on the bed easily. My voice was hoarse as I forced out the words, “Can I get some water, please.”

  Lia stirred and I looked down swallowing what I could easing the slicing pain in my throat. My hand rubbed her neck and settled over her cool cheek soothing her.

  The nurse whispered, “Sure. I don’t want to wake up your…”

  Her voice trailed off and I gave her the title she searched for with a smile. “Girlfriend.”

  Nurse Nina nodded, “She’s been here all night harassing the staff making sure you were okay. If I had to guess, I think that fire scared the shit out of her.” Nina handed me some ice water with a straw and I drank it down pacifying the scratchiness of my throat.

  “I’m glad she’s here. I’ll wake her in a minute though; her neck has got to hurt like this.”

  “I’ll go find her a pillow. Poor dear.” Nina left us. My hands shifted through her hair, soft and colorful. Being on the mountain in the thick of the fire scared me. Scared me enough to know I didn’t want to lose her over some stupid argument with a guy. I wasn’t letting some asshole on her college campus come between us. We were better than that. We were stronger than that.

  When did Amelia Rae Faust become my everything?

  The moment that fire threatened to take it all away.

  Truth bomb, I fell for her the moment I gazed into her eyes on a dark and stormy night.

  Yeah, I’m a sappy old fart and I’m cool with that.

  Time passed and I contemplated the hypotheticals of not having her in my life. It was an intolerable feeling that welled up inside my chest and made it ache like my heart had shattered to glass fragments cutting me over and o
ver again. I couldn’t let another moment pass by without telling her what she meant to me. I tugged on her hair to tell her so.

  “Whit?” Her voice was low and gravelly from lack of sleep and her eyes that peeked up filled with tears. Seeing the liquid pool in her eyes made me choke up. I didn’t want her to cry, to hurt, to be anything but my happy girl. She bit her bottom lip looking afraid to speak and I took the worry from her.

  “I’m here baby. Not even a fire could take me from you.”

  “Oh my god. I was so scared. I called everyone and looked all over. When I found your jeep, I lost it.” Tears streaked her cheeks. Old makeup darkened her eyes into twin bruises I wanted to kiss away. There was no comforting her like this. I needed to touch her, soothe her, and make sure she knew that nothing like this would ever happen again.

  “Hey. Hey. Hey pretty baby, come here.” I made Lia get up from the chair and scooted over to make room for her little body in the bed next to me letting her cry it out. The fire dried me from the inside out while Lia clung to me like a wet rag. We tangled IV wires and I didn’t give a shit if they pulled out. “I’m okay. It’s okay.” I repeated it over and over trying to convince us both until her tears slowed down to hiccups.

  “I was so scared. I saw the smoke and tied to call you, but I couldn’t get through. I saw the fire climb the ridge and I drove as close as I could and tried to find you.”

  “I’m here. I’m okay.” The words we didn’t say resemble something closer to; you never know what you have until it’s gone. I don’t even take her to task for getting close to an out of control forest fire. I’m thankful to be alive and that she’s okay. Somehow through all of this my jealously evaporated and love took over. I cupped her cheeks and kissed the salty tears away drinking her in. Lia was my everything.

  “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” Her fist lightly tapped my chest and I closed my hand over hers holding it against my beating heart. She could hurt me in the worst way.

  “You don’t want me to become a toasty campfire s’more?” I joked through a rough cough.

  “That’s not even the least bit funny.” Her lips thinned and breathing hitched.

  “Too soon?” I chuckled reaching out for her.

  “How about never?” Her eyes were glassy chips of amethyst and I cradled her in my arms rocking her back and forth against my sore body. I’ll leave it to Damien to make crispy park ranger jokes if it makes her feel better that I’m okay.

  “Knock. Knock. Is this a private party?” Hunter stood at the door, Taylor under his arm, and the crew behind him peeking in. I saw balloons and flowers flanking the cavalry. I would have liked a much different reason for my friends to gather than my almost demise.

  “Dude, get in here.” I welcomed everyone in on the moment helping Lia sit up and pet her hair back over her shoulders keeping her close to me.

  “Scared the shit out of us. Evan texted me when he heard it on the radio.” Hunter and I clasped hands as Lia attempted to slip off the bed. She was too quick for me to catch her escaping.

  “Don’t go babe.” I watched her stand and reached for her hand squeezing it gently to give her a pep.

  “Just going in the hall for a moment.” She murmured looking shy. I pulled her to me despite the discomfort in my body. She leaned down.

  “What is it?” She asked.

  “I need a kiss from my girl.” Her face blushed and she chastely kissed my cheek, but I move my face to capture her lips. Her eyes opened wide closing on a sigh. I kissed her forehead before letting her slip away.

  “I’ll be right back.” She nodded ducking out avoiding everyone.

  “We’ll go with you.” Taylor said as she pushed Kristen out of the room to follow Lia leaving me with the guys.

  Two sets of eyes I’ve known most of life stared back with grim expressions. I cleared the junk from my throat as they stepped closer crowding my bed.

  “I seriously thought you got in way over your head out there man.” Damien sat in the chair to my left, while Hunter stood behind him.

  “Hey Smoky Bear!” Chase joined us tossing a bag of marshmallows on the nightstand. Hunter fake punched Chase in the stomach who pretended to lean over taking it.

  “Cute. Do me a favor and hide those from Lia.” I pointed at Chase not sure if the appropriate feeling was annoyance or humor with the dismissal of the fact that I could have died out there.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Damien asked.

  Hunter smacked his cousin who managed to duck from the hit.

  “She’s really shaken up from the whole thing. Bullied my nurses too while I was out. You know, I kind of expected the jokes to come from you, not Chase.” Glancing at Damien, I maneuvered myself up in the bed letting Hunter hand me my remote control for the bed.

  Damien got out of the chair to pace the room while he grabbed the back of his head looking sheepish.

  “Really dude?” I said.

  “That’s because I made this dipshit leave his bag of marshmallows in the car.” Hunter grabbed Damien around the neck wrestling with him until he pushed him off fixing his hair.

  “See, Hunter is a stick in the mud. I could probably use that stick for roasting those suckers.” What would I do without these guys. I appreciated their years of friendship as we’d all been through so much together.

  “You leave my stick alone or I’ll beat your ass. That’s exactly why I moved out after high school.” Hunter teased his cousin.

  “Wow, a gay joke from the straightest guy in the room. I can see why your girlfriend kissed a girl and liked it.” Damien dodged Hunter and they mock wrestled in my room. I laughed grabbing my chest coughing.

  “Gentlemen.” The mean nurse stood in the doorway glaring at their shenanigans before walking away again down the hall.

  “Stop, my chest hurts from smoke inhalation.” Lia would kick their asses right now and my smile grew tenfold thinking about my girlfriend going all junkyard dog on them.

  Chase stepped in between them to put his arms around both Damien and Hunter with a snicker. “Look, it’s okay if you’re into dudes, but you are cousins.”

  “Already been there.” Damien said puffing out his chest making Hunter grunt. Damien shrugged pulling out the Ace card. “Well, I am banging your sister.”

  “Ugh, please the mental image needs bleach.” Chase pushed Damien away shuddering.

  Leaning back against the wall, Hunter pointed out the obvious we both agreed on. “They will forever be fourteen.”

  “It’s true. I think the only time we didn’t kill each other was on the football field.”

  “You know, I thought he was in a bad mood, but since it’s been a few years, I’m guessing this is just his true personality.” Damien retorted.

  “You mean dickbag?” I jested.

  “Sure.” Chase drawled busying himself with picking up my chart to read. He flipped through the pages ignoring the rest of us. He was a veterinarian, but all things medical fascinated him.

  “You know, the only one of the team we’re missing is Evan.” I chided them. It sucked not having everyone together.

  “Nope. Nope. Not gonna do it. Not even for you, crispy tater-tot.” Damien quipped. He stood his ground grumbling. Yeah, that was Damien, the biggest kid out of all of us.

  “Oh come on, you don’t think your little pissing contest with him could be over by now. You got the girl.” I rationalized.

  “Of course I got the girl. He can’t handle it. He can’t handle the truth.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Damien quoted A Few Good Men.

  Evan was doing fine, but out of all of us, I kept up with him the most since school. I never really thought it was fair for Damien to pull rank the way he did because he was pissed about decade old shit. Time to let go and move on, easier said than done I supposed.

  “I’d say he was handling it just fine when he let Kristen keep the ring and walked away to make room for your asshole ego.” Chase explained.

  Damien smacked his ba
ckside. “It’s a mighty fine ass too.”

  “It’s a lost cause trying to argue this one. Let it go.” Hunter muttered. “Damien needs something to be mad at, it’s in his DNA.”

  Damien flipped Hunter the finger rubbing the bridge of his nose attempting to be discrete. It wasn’t working, but telling him that was exhausting, so we gave up.

  I sighed from the effects of the last 24 hours when it all hit me.

  “Alright, I’m just trying to point out the obvious.”

  Chase leaned over the end of my bed busy reading my chart. “What’s that?” I kicked my foot at the nosy fucker who ignored me.

  “Well, Evan didn’t pop Kristen’s cherry and that’s what has Damien all twisted.”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake I don’t want to hear about this.”

  I was pretty sure none of us wanted to hear it, but I felt the need to point out that Damien shouldn’t be mad at our friend for something he didn’t even do. Plus, if Kristen wasn’t going to tell him we probably shouldn’t get involved in the petty argument anyway.

  “Hear about what?” Winnie piped in looking around the room, her arms laden with flowers, candy, and coffee I desperately wanted. Scratch that, I was desperate for Lia, but she wasn’t here right now, and that made me moody. Winnie was Chase’s girlfriend and another newcomer to our happy little group.

  “Nothing.” Everyone in the room echoed. Right, because why would we ever clear the air about something that Damien had been holding a grudge about for the last decade or so? Oh well.

  “Uh huh, you guys realize you’re all terrible liars, right?” Winnie smirked poking Chase in the stomach. He grabbed her, but she dodged him.

  “It’s nothing Win. Just us guys being jackasses.” Hunter took the stuff from her arms before she dropped it letting Chase hug her tightly.