by June Kramin
She heard hammering so she walked toward the barn. Ben was working on the fence. He looked over just briefly before he finished driving a nail he was working on. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” He reached in his pouch and brought out another nail.
“I wanted to come home. That fence really isn’t a one-man job.”
He scoffed, probably at her use of the word ‘home.’ “I’ll manage. Did you come for Derf or are you here just long enough to pack up?” He sank another nail, she thought with a little more force than the wood required.
“Did you even listen to me? I said I wanted to come home.”
“Yeah, I heard you.” He threw his hammer in the toolbox and whipped off the pouch of nails. “Loud and clear. I’ll go get your cat.”
“Ben…”
He stormed toward the house without turning back. In a couple minutes, he came back out. She was waiting on the porch for him. He gave her the kitten and a bag of food, jumped off the porch and walked toward the barn.
“Can’t we talk?”
“Nothing to talk about, Reggie.”
“I think there is.”
“Wrong!” He swung around and bounded up the six stairs in two long strides. He stood face to face with her. “Wrong! I get it. I’m out of your life. I’m not playing second fiddle to a ghost anymore. I won’t have you thinking about him every time you see me. I’m sorry I’m not the one that’s dead, Reggie, but I can’t fix that.”
“But…”
He cut her off when he leaned in even closer to her face. “Go. Home.” He bound off the porch again and returned to the barn.
She walked back, snuggling with the kitten and refusing to cry. After the long trip and the emotional roller coaster she had been on lately, she simply didn’t have the strength for it. Immediately after entering her house, she flopped on the couch with her arm over her eyes. Derf leapt off the couch and ran for the kitchen, happy to be home. Reggie was asleep in seconds. Jetlag and too much thinking had finally gotten the best of her.
~*~
The kitten knew no boundaries. Despite Reggie’s diligence with a water spray bottle, which she was taught to use as rule enforcement with the naughty kitty, he was still always up on the counters. He made his way up the chair, across the counter and on the stove. He was happily leaning down and licking bacon splatter from the knob when he slipped and caught himself, but not before turning the knob on and starting the gas appliance.
The windows were still open to air out the house and the breeze was coming in as strong as before. It only took a few passes of the curtains for them to catch fire.
~*~
Ben saw the glow as he was heading back to his house. “Shit!” He dialed 9-1-1 on his cell phone and ran for the four-wheeler. He jumped off it when he reached her house, before it even came to a complete stop. He had been calling her name as he drove over, but she was nowhere to be found. There were flames coming out of every window as he stood on the porch calling her name again. He reached for the doorknob, but it burned his hand and he pulled it back. He could hear the sirens, but they were still too far away. He was worried she was in there. The fire wouldn’t wait for help.
After kicking in the door, he immediately spotted her lying on the couch. “Reggie!” He rushed in as creaking came from above. A beam in flames fell down between where he was standing and the couch. Holding his arm up, trying to shield his face from the flames, he jumped over the beam. He made it to the couch and picked up her limp body then jumped back and ran outside to fresh air. “Reggie!” he shouted as he shook her, but she didn’t budge. He put his head to her chest, but he couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of his heart. After putting his cheek close to her lips hoping to feel air coming from her nose, he worried when there was none. He began CPR and got a few breaths into her. She finally gasped for air. He dropped his head in relief and turned her on her side. She coughed loudly several times, trying to take in more fresh air. When an ambulance and fire truck screeched to a halt, he immediately picked her up and ran to them.
He shouted, “She needs oxygen!”
They opened the back of the ambulance. He stepped up and put her on the gurney then moved out of the way while they went to work on her. “How long was she in there?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know. She left my place twenty minutes ago.”
“Do you know how the fire started?”
“How the hell would I know that?” It hadn’t even occurred to him. Did she start it? Had he been so bad that she…? That was crazy. She didn’t even like him; she wasn’t about to commit suicide over him. He wanted to hold her, but instead he had been so horrible to her. No doubt if she woke up, his would be the last face she’d want to see. He climbed out of the ambulance.
One of the EMT’s jumped down from the back and closed the doors. “She’s in bad shape but stable. We’re going to take her in. You should ride along.” He pointed to Ben’s arm. It was red and blistered. He didn’t even realize he’d been burned.
“I’ll drive in later.”
“You responsible for her?”
“Huh? Uh…I suppose.” He didn’t know why he said that. “I’ll be in shortly.” He gave them her name and they drove off. He walked over to the firemen who were concerned only about keeping the fire from spreading to the trees. “Nothing to do now but save the foundation.” Old firemen’s joke; Ben didn’t laugh.
“Ah shit.”
“What?” the chief asked.
“She had a cat in there.”
The chief looked at the house. “Not anymore.” He looked down at Ben’s arm. “You really ought to have that looked at.”
Ben looked down at it again. “I’ll go in a bit. I want to spend a few minutes to see if the cat was able to escape.” After half an hour of searching and finding no sign of the kitten, Ben drove into the hospital. He didn’t realize how bad he looked until the nurse at the ER desk jumped to attention at the sight of him.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “How’s my neighbor doing?”
“She’s a lot better. You the hero of the hour?”
“Hero? No, I just got her out.”
“That, honey-bun, is a hero,” she said with a flirty wink. “Let’s get you in back and get that arm looked at.”
“Can I see Reggie? Uh…Regina first please?”
“She’s sleeping, but I suppose you can peek in on her. Just for a second though.”
The nurse led him to the room where Reggie was then left him alone while she went into the next room to get it set up to take care of his burns. He reached for Reggie’s hand with both of his and gently stroked it. She shook her head and whispered, “Ben,” but it didn’t matter. Through the oxygen mask and the soft moan, all his mind heard was “Van.” He let go of her hand and walked into the next room.
When his burns were treated and wrapped, he went back into her room and sat in a chair in the corner. He kicked his feet out in front of himself and fell asleep.
~*~
Early the next morning, Reggie opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was suddenly scared, having no memories of being brought into the hospital. She sat up and called out, “Troy!”
Ben hurried to her side. “Hey.”
She had fear in her eyes. “Why am I here? What happened?”
“There was a fire, Reg.”
“A fire? My house!” She kicked her legs over the side of the bed trying to get out. He grabbed them, put them back on the bed and gently pushed her shoulders back.
“Don’t try to get up yet. You’ve had smoke inhalation bad.”
“How did I get here?”
“An ambulance brought you.”
“The last thing I remember is falling asleep on the couch. It caught fire? How?”
“They’re looking into it.”
Reggie’s eyes fell to his bandaged arm. “How did I get out, Ben?”
“I saw the flames from my place, Reg.”
“You carried me out while th
e house was in flames?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” He walked away and looked out the window.
“That’s not true,” the fire chief said as he entered the room. “Sorry for the intrusion. I know it’s early, but I heard voices. We discovered what caused the fire. I wanted to let you know as soon as possible.”
Ben turned around to face him. Reggie sat up.
“There was a dial turned on for the stove. My educated guess is it caught the curtains on fire.”
“How would the stove get turned on?”
“Did you start anything before you laid down? Water for tea or anything?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. I went straight to the couch after I walked in.”
“Your boyfriend here mentioned a cat.”
“I’m not her boyfriend.”
“My apologies. It’s not often you see a neighbor go into something burning that bad.” Reggie’s eyes went wide. The fire was worse than Ben was letting on. He was obviously defensive about being called her boyfriend. She wasn’t going to make a fuss about it. The way he felt about her, she was surprised he saved her at all.
“It’s not common, but it’s a possibility. It could have been the cat. The switch was broken. You didn’t need to push the left front one in to turn it on, did you?”
She shook her head no. It didn’t bother her and she never even thought about getting it fixed. “Wait a second.” Something the fire chief said finally hit her. “You said cat. Did Derf make it out?” She looked at Ben with a pleading in her eyes.
“I couldn’t find him.”
She dropped back in the bed and turned her head to the wall. She refused to cry again. She was sick of crying. It was just a silly kitten.
“I’m sorry,” the chief said. “I wanted to let you know the cause. I hope you feel better soon.” The chief left the room.
“I’m going to go see when they’re going to let you out.” Ben left the room as well.
~*~
Ben came back at noon with a shopping bag. She was sitting up in bed, awake, but hadn’t touched her lunch. She was playing with the Jell-O when he walked in; she didn’t hear him. “Food suck?”
She jumped at his words. “I’m not hungry.”
“You need to eat something.”
“I said I’m not hungry.” She pushed the plate away and slumped back on the bed.
“They’re letting me take you outta here. You must be a real gem of a patient.”
“Kiss my ass.”
“Yup. That’s pretty much what they said.” He dropped the bag at her feet. “Put these on.”
“What are they?”
“Why don’t you look and find out?”
She huffed and sat up. “Sweats?”
“You needed something to wear out of here. I wasn’t about to guess your size and buy you jeans and tops. We can stop somewhere on the way home.”
“Home?”
“My house. For now anyway.”
“That’s not necessary, Ben. I can go to a motel.”
“You have no driver’s license, no credit card, and no cash. You’re stuck with me, doll-face. Now get dressed.” He left the room and closed the door.
They drove in silence on their way to his place. When he reached her driveway, he stopped and glanced at her.
“Is there anything to see?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Then no.” She waited for another few moments before speaking again. “Do Troy and Sabrina know?”
“Yep.”
“Are they coming?”
“Nope.”
“Is that all you can say? Yep…Nope.”
“Nope.”
“You’re infuriating. You know that?”
“Yep.”
She crossed her arms and stared out the window. “Why isn’t Troy coming?”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“What?”
“All this time, I thought you’ve been burning a torch for your old man and here you’re in love with your best friend’s husband.”
“I am not in love with Troy!”
“Like hell.” He stopped in front of his house and slid out of the truck.
Reggie huffed after him and slammed her door. “I’m not in love with him! They’re my best friends. We’ve been through a lot. They have always been there for me.”
“His is just the first name you scream when you wake up?”
“That’s a long story,” she said, storming off and heading to the lake. She sat at the edge and threw pebbles in the water. His shadow fell over her.
“Seems to me we have a world of time.”
She wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled herself in a tight ball. “Every story you drag out of me or my friends makes me out to be some kind of victim and I don’t like it.”
“So quit being a victim.” He walked away. After a half an hour, she walked into the house. He had some chips and sandwiches on the table. He pointed to it. “Sit and eat some lunch.”
“I told you earlier, I’m not hungry.”
“I don’t give a goddamn. I’m not having you passing out on me. Sit and eat something.”
“Are you planning on being this incorrigible the whole time?”
“That’s entirely up to you, doll-face.”
“I swear if you don’t stop calling me that, I’ll kill you in your sleep!”
“I sleep with my gun.” He left the room.
Reggie sat at the table and nibbled at her sandwich. She was hungrier than she pretended to be and finished an entire one before she knew it. After checking his refrigerator, she found some milk and drank a large glass. The whole milk tasted great. She only bought herself skim milk but was happy to indulge here. When she was done, she carried the glass to the sink to rinse it. It slipped in her hand and broke when it dropped. When she went to pick up the pieces, she again sliced her fingers.
~*~
Ben came running at the sound of glass breaking. When he reached her, she was staring at the blood dripping from her finger. “Not again.” He removed a hand towel from the drawer and reached for her hand. It surprised him when she said, “No,” and pulled her hand back.
“Don’t go crazy on me. Let me get some pressure on it and stop the bleeding.”
“It’s not so bad,” she said, watching it drip. “It’s such a funny thing…blood.”
“Reg?”
She stared as it dripped a drop every few seconds. Ben tried again to grab her hand and again she pulled it away. “You never think about it, but it’s always there. You have no idea how bad you need it until you lose it.”
“Reggie, stop. It’s still flowing really bad. Let me put pressure on it.”
“No!” She gave it a slight squeeze, causing it to drip a little faster. “All these years, the mere sight of it…this,” she said as she made it drip again. “So I’m losing a little blood. Big deal. It’s not like it’s a baby…or a husband…or a…” She choked up. “A…a stupid cat!” Clutching her hand at her stomach, she fell to her knees.
Ben dropped next to her, wrestled her hand away and applied pressure to her finger. She clutched at his shirt with her free hand and buried her face in it, crying loudly. He stroked her hair until she was cried out then picked her up and took her to the couch.
“I’m going to get a Band-Aid. I’ll be back in a second.”
~*~
When he came back, she had already fallen asleep. He figured she was exhausted from all the drama and crying. He put the bandage on and since she was asleep, he gave it a kiss. Discovering he was more tired than he realized, Ben went to his room and dropped on his bed, falling asleep within a few minutes. Hours later, he awoke to Reggie gently shaking him.
“Ben, get up,” she whispered.
“What is it?” He sat up and held her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“Get your gun.”
“What? Why?” He dropped to his knees
and grabbed his shotgun from under the bed.
“There’s an animal scratching at the door.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Well, I don’t want to scare it away!” she said, as loud as she could and still be whispering. “What if it has rabies? Why else would it be scratching to come in?”
She turned to go back out the door. He poked at her side and made a grunting sound. She screamed and jumped on his bed. “Very funny! Go see what it is.” The loud whisper made him laugh. Being woken out of a sound sleep, they had forgotten to be rude to each other. He smiled at her standing on the bed.
“This isn’t funny. Go see what it is.” Her hands were on her hips but he could see she was fighting a grin as well.
“Yes, dear.” He went out the back door and approached the front door slowly. Ben laughed then opened the door and called to her. “Come here.”
She slowly came out of the bedroom. “What did you find?”
He was standing in the doorway with his hands behind his back. When she was closer to him, he held out his hands. In them was her kitten.
“Derf!” She ran and took the cat from him, rubbed his nose to hers then laughed as she swung him around.
“I guess he knew his way here. It was kind of his second home.”
“Do you still have any food for him?”
“No. I sent it all with you, but I can open up a can of tuna. He’s probably starved.”
The two of them sat on the kitchen floor and watched the kitten wolf down the tuna. They looked up and smiled at each other, then Ben’s face relaxed. He stood and leaned against the counter.
“Sabrina is supposed to stay in bed. That’s why they’re not coming.”
“She’s having problems?”
“The doctor ordered bed rest for a few days. They expect her and the baby to be fine. It’s not that they didn’t care, Reg. Troy asked me to look after you.”
