This Time

by Amy Reece

  “Well, he’s at work, sweetheart, but I know he’ll be here as soon as he can.” He squatted down to talk to them and Nina could see he had an instant rapport. He asked them questions about their school and about their favorite games while Nina paced and checked her watch every two minutes.

  Fifteen minutes later, Chris jogged back to them and motioned for both Nina and Hugh to join her near the front of the SUV. “The house is empty, Nina—no sign of the intruder.”

  “Oh, thank goodness. So, it’s safe to go back?” She had no idea what she would do about the broken glass door, but—

  “Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Nina. Besides it being an absolute wreck in there, we feel it would be better for you to stay with someone for a few nights.”

  Nina’s stomach clenched. “What are you not telling me, Chris?”

  “Okay, listen.” She drew her farther away from the car. “I don’t want the girls to overhear, but you deserve the truth. The level of violence and destruction in your house has me worried. It seems a little too personal and I think it would be a good idea for you to stay elsewhere.”

  “Oh, my God.” Her thoughts raced, but she was unable to process any of them. “I guess I could call my parents.”

  Chris met Hugh’s eyes again, eyebrows raised slightly. He nodded briefly. “Actually, I was thinking you and the girls could stay with us tonight. There’s no reason to upset your parents. We’ve got plenty of room.”

  And you carry a gun. It must be serious if she’s willing to take us in personally. “I’m officially freaking out, Chris.”

  Chris hugged her again briefly. “I know, but I think this is for the best, just until we can figure out who did this. It will take at least a day for the police to process your house and then there’s a lot of cleaning up in your future. I’d like you to stay with Hugh and me tonight and then we can talk about the next few nights. Okay? It’s going to be all right, Nina, I promise.”

  She followed them to their house and sat in the kitchen, drinking a cup of hot tea laced liberally with whiskey, while Hugh showed the girls to the playroom. Both were wide awake, but Nina knew they’d crash soon. Chris assured her they had plenty of spare pajamas they kept for Janey and the girls were more than welcome to wear them. She also promised to find a t-shirt for Nina to sleep in. She was on her second cup of tea, finally feeling warmth creep back into her extremities, when Hugh returned to the kitchen.

  “They’re fine,” he assured Nina. “They found Janey’s dress-up clothes and are having a fashion show with Bob.” The girls had met Hugh’s golden retriever when they got to the house and had fallen instantly in love with the friendly dog.

  “Thank you both.” She wrapped her hands around the mug and stared into the brown liquid. “I don’t understand, Chris. You think someone broke into my house to do what? To kill me? Are you sure it wasn’t simply a burglary” She’d thought of nothing else since Chris had told her she couldn’t go back to her house.

  Chris shook her head as she brought Hugh a cup of tea. “Not necessarily. We’re not sure of anything yet, but the level of damage seemed…personal, somehow.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I’ve seen burglaries where the house has been tossed, but there was something else at yours. The cushions were all cut, as well as the mattresses. Some of the walls were even gouged. It exhibited some serious anger, and I’m concerned whoever broke in didn’t find what they were looking for. I don’t want them to come back when you and the girls are there.”

  Nina nodded mutely. She cleared her throat, but her cell phone rang before she could speak. “It’s Seamus. Excuse me.”

  “Nina? Where are you? Are you okay? What about Lily and Iris?”

  She blinked back the tears that began the second she heard his voice. “We’re all fine. We’re at Chris and Hugh’s house. The police won’t let me go back to my house yet.”

  “Okay. Tell me what happened, hon. What was taken?”

  “I don’t know. It was all wrecked and Lily just ran inside, and what if the guy had still been there?” She lost it, unable to talk through her sobs. She’d held it in as long as she could.

  Hugh gently took the phone from her and stepped out of the room as Chris rose and found a box of tissues.

  Nina grabbed a handful and stood to pace, angry with herself for falling apart. “I’m sorry, Chris. I don’t know why I’m crying.”

  “Don’t apologize. You’ve had a shock and you need time to process.”

  Hugh returned and handed the phone back to Nina. “He wants to talk to you.”

  She accepted it and turned away from them. “Hey.”

  “Hey. Listen, hon. I can’t get off work until Thursday morning, but I need you to stay with Chris and Hugh, okay? I’ll be staying with you after that and you can go back to your house. God, Nina.”

  “I’m scared, Seamus.”

  “I know. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Chris and Hugh won’t let anything happen to you or the girls.”

  “I know.” She sniffed and chuckled wryly. “This kinda sucks, you know?”

  “Yeah. I’ll see you Thursday morning.”

  She hung up and turned to see Chris and Hugh watching her; Hugh stood behind his wife, his hands on her shoulders. “Thanks. Sorry about that.” She waved her hand vaguely. “I heard his voice and…”

  “And kind of freaked out. Come on.” Chris held her hand out. “I bet you could use a hot shower. Hugh will get the girls ready for bed.” She led her up the stairs as she spoke. “We can put them in the twin bed in the play room, but the guest room has a queen-sized bed if you want them with you.”

  Nina nodded. “I would, thanks. I need to have them close tonight.”

  “Of course.”

  Nina could see Chris was brimming with questions about the phone call from Seamus and the rather obvious relationship implied by it, but she refrained from asking, something Nina was enormously grateful for. She wasn’t ready to go public with it—whatever it was. And she couldn’t handle anything else tonight.

  Chris found her a t-shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in, then showed her where to find everything she needed in the bathroom. Within a few minutes, Nina was standing under a steaming hot stream of water, letting it wash away some of the tension of the night. Okay, take a minute to calm down. Yeah, it was scary and awful to come home to a break-in, but you and the girls are safe. Chris and Hugh won’t let anything, or anyone get to you. I wish Seamus were here, though.

  By the time she returned to the kitchen, Hugh had managed to drag the girls away from the fashion show and fixed them each a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich along with a glass of milk. Nina waved away his offer to make one for her.

  “Thanks, though, Hugh. Lily didn’t eat much at dinner.”

  “I don’t like meatloaf.” Lily spoke around a mouthful of bread. Bob, still wearing a scarf around his head, sat on the floor between the girls’ chairs, waiting patiently for a bite of sandwich.

  “Hugh cut the crusts off, Momma.” Iris whispered the words as Nina slid into the chair next to her.

  “I see that.” She’d learned she might as well cut off their crusts, since neither would eat them anyway.

  Hugh winked at her as he refilled Lily’s glass.

  When they’d finished their snack, Nina instructed them to take their plates to the sink, then followed them upstairs where Chris was laying out pajamas for them. They were thrilled to find out they got to sleep with their mother and happily crawled into the big bed beside Nina. They were asleep in minutes. Nina thought she’d be awake for hours, but the comforting warmth of their little bodies lulled her to sleep in less than ten minutes.

  ***

  Seamus

  “Damn it!” His voice echoed through the cavernous garage, which housed the two engines, the paramedic unit, and the captain’s SUV. He’d stepped out of the station for a few precious moments of privacy while he called Nina. Seamus shoved his phone in his back pock
et and ran his hands through his hair while contemplating kicking the tires on the closest engine. Nah. I’d probably break a toe, and everyone would give me shit about it. Goddammit. I need to be with Nina. But he couldn’t take off mid-shift without something more serious than a residential break-in; it would take a death in the family at the very least.

  “Hey, everything okay out here?” Shella peered around the edge of the engine.

  He huffed out a harsh sigh and nodded. “You drew the short straw, huh?”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “I volunteered. I figured it might be girl problems and I’m a girl, so…” She shrugged. “Did you have a fight with your new girlfriend?”

  He rolled his eyes. He’d told Jon about the break-up with Sloane; he should have known it would spread around the station like wildfire. “No, no fight. But there was a break-in at her house tonight and apparently the intruders trashed the place.”

  “Oh, my God! But she’s okay, right? Does she have a place to stay?”

  “Yeah, my sister-in-law, Chris—she’s a cop, you know—took Nina and the girls home with her. I’ll stay with her as soon as I get off Thursday. Shit. My brother said Chris is worried about the level of violence involved and doesn’t want Nina to be alone.”

  Shella frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “God, I had no idea! Listen, let us know what we can do, okay?”

  “Thanks. Yeah, I will. God, how am I supposed to concentrate on work?” He eyed the tires again.

  “It sucks, but she’s safe tonight. And you’re a professional, so you’ll do your job, like always.” She walked over to him and rubbed his shoulders. “It’s going to be okay, Seamus. Did you say ‘girls’? Does your new girlfriend have kids?”

  He smirked down at her. “I did, and she does. But she’s not my girlfriend, Shella. Not yet, anyway.”

  She waved his objection away. “Kids, huh? Wow. How old?”

  “They’re six—twins. Lily and Iris. What’s that look for?” He narrowed his eyes at the insufferable expression on her face.

  She laughed. “Nothing. I’m just amazed at the thought of you with kids.”

  “Shut up.” Before he could say any more, the high-pitched beep of the station alert sounded and words began to scroll past on the electric sign posted above the door. Seamus and Shella automatically turned and headed to the computer screen monitor attached to the wall near the door.

  “Engine 14, Ladder 12, EMS 5. Multiple vehicle accident, Southbound I-25 at Lead/Coal. Delta response. Time out 21:23.”

  The message repeated, but Seamus and Shella had already left at a run. Shella ran toward the EMS truck while Seamus grabbed his gear and threw himself on board Engine 14. Both huge trucks pulled out of the garage in less than a minute, sirens blaring. The EMS unit had left in under thirty seconds. A delta response indicated a serious accident with life-threatening injuries and every single firefighter on duty at the station was mentally preparing for what they were about to face. It took nearly five minutes to reach the accident scene with the huge engines, but Seamus knew Shella and Brandon were already there, rendering whatever aid they could until the rest of the crew and the ambulances arrived. The police had cleared the traffic to allow the engines access to the scene and the truck finally pulled to a screeching halt about fifty feet in front of a mangled mass of metal that used to be at least two different cars, from what Seamus could see.

  “Holy shit!” Jon breathed as he jumped down to the asphalt.

  A police officer met them. “We’ve got a DOA in vehicle one—that’s the red Prius—and one victim trapped in the black Honda. You’ll need the jaws.”

  Seamus turned to grab the Jaws of Life from the truck and jogged with them to the remains of the black Honda. He and Jon worked together to free the male victim who sat, unconscious, in the driver’s seat. As they managed to pry the door open, a paramedic team from another station stepped up to assess the man’s condition before Seamus and Jon attempted to extricate him from the vehicle.

  “Pulse is thready, breath stable. He’s got a compound fracture of the lower left leg.”

  “Okay. Jon?” Seamus jerked his chin toward the car, signaling for Jon to take the lead and grab the guy’s upper body.

  “Hold on!” One of the paramedics stepped forward. “Let me get a collar on him before you pull him all the way out.”

  Seamus and Jon halted, Jon holding the man’s torso while the paramedic fastened a brace around his neck, then backed away so they could finish pulling the unconscious man from the vehicle. Seamus was as gentle as possible as he reached for the legs, but the right one was jammed under the dashboard and wouldn’t budge.

  “All right. Hold on, Jon. I need to grab a crow bar.” He ran to where he’d laid the bars and grabbed the one he thought would fit best. Within a minute, he had the man’s other leg free and he and Jon carried him a safe distance from the vehicle so the paramedics could work on him. He’d lost a lot of blood and Seamus hoped he would live.

  “Baca! DeLuca! Over here!” Brandon Davis was gesturing from the mangled Prius.

  If they hadn’t been told what type of car it was, Seamus wouldn’t have been able to tell, so twisted and wrapped around the black Honda it was. They ran to join the paramedic. “What do you need?”

  “We’ve got an infant in the backseat, status unknown. I need you to get the door open or the window or something.”

  Seamus peered through the cracked glass and saw a tiny baby in a car seat. Ah, shit. I hate when it’s kids. There was no visible blood, but he knew that didn’t mean the child was unharmed. “Let’s get the ART.” He jogged to the truck as he spoke to retrieve the glass removal tool. He and Jon worked carefully so as not to spray any of the broken pieces of tempered glass on the child. Jon pulled the remaining glass away and Seamus reached inside to cut the car seat from the seatbelt restraints, then hefted the child and car seat out the window and set it on the pavement.

  Brandon began to work on the infant. “I’ve got a heartbeat and breath sounds. Let’s get him to an ambulance.” He stood and carried the infant—carrier and all—to a waiting ambulance.

  Seamus and Jon then turned to the grim task of removing the female’s body—likely the baby’s mother—from the front seat. They didn’t speak as they worked, except to signal to each other what they needed. The woman’s face was covered by the airbag and the steering wheel was almost completely embedded in her chest. They had both long since grown used to dealing with such horrors on a daily basis, but the tragedy of it hit both of them.

  “Fuck.” Jon whispered the expletive as they closed the doors of the ambulance, which would take the body to the morgue.

  “Yeah.” Seamus agreed. The tow trucks had arrived and there was nothing more they could do, so they trudged back to Engine 14, hearts heavy. It was nearly midnight by the time they returned to the station, so they grabbed a snack and a bottle of water, then headed to the showers. Seamus wanted to text Nina and check in with her, but he hoped she was asleep, so he refrained. It took an hour, but he finally fell asleep and managed to get almost six hours. The next day was quiet; they only had two short calls, neither of which required both engines, so Seamus and Jon only had to go on one of them. He would have preferred a busy day; boredom was a terrible thing when he was frantic with worry about Nina and the girls. He tossed and turned most of the second night, then finally threw his covers off at 4:30 a.m. and headed to the workout room. He put in an hour with the weights and another half hour on the treadmill, then showered and prepared pancakes for the crew, although he wasn’t scheduled for breakfast duty. He needed to stay busy, and while measuring flour and eggs couldn’t totally keep his mind off Nina, it was better than staring at the ceiling above his bunk.

  Nina’s car wasn’t at Hugh and Chris’s house when he arrived, and he figured she was dropping the girls at school. She’d texted to let him know she was taking the day off to deal with the clean-up at her house. Hugh answered his knock and led him to the kitchen
, where he helped himself to a cup of coffee and sat down to wait for her.

  “Chris drove with her to drop the girls off at school.” Hugh sipped his coffee and stared at his brother over the rim of his mug.

  “What?” Seamus thought he knew, but he was going to make his brother ask.

  “Nothing.” He shrugged. “I’m just wondering what Sloane thinks about your new…friendship…with Nina.”

  “Gee, Dad, it’s really none of your damn business.”

  Hugh merely smiled and calmly continued to sip his coffee.

  “Sloane and I broke up last week,” Seamus said with a sigh. “I’m not that big of an asshole, you know.”

  “Oh, I know. I’m not sure you do, though.” He sipped again. “Nina’s a strong woman. Maybe not as gorgeous as Sloane, but…”

  “Don’t make me punch you, Hugh. You’re trying to bait me, but I’m not in the mood. Nina is special and you need to shut up about her.” He was too tired to deal with Hugh’s older brother shit today.

  “Okay. Good. You want some breakfast? I made French toast for the girls.” He chuckled. “God, they’re cute.”

  “They are that. I’m making inroads with Iris, finally. I’ll pass on the French toast. Thanks, but I couldn’t sleep, so I made pancakes for the station.” He stood as he heard the SUV pull into the driveway. He tried to wait for her in the kitchen but couldn’t. He met her in the middle of the living room and she walked straight into his arms. He laid his head atop hers and breathed in the heady, yet comforting fragrance of her hair. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chris smile briefly, then exit the room quickly, giving them some blessed privacy. He pulled back finally and held her beautiful face in his hands, noting the dark circles beneath her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and reached up to run her hand over his rough, unshaven jaw. “I am now.”

  He couldn’t help himself; he bent his head and kissed her softly, sweetly. It didn’t matter that Hugh and Chris were probably watching from the kitchen. He leaned his forehead against hers, eyes closed, and sighed. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here earlier.”