Old Flame (Burning Hearts Book 1)

by Lolita Lane

  The phone rang.

  “Sarah Brewer, Clarksville Post,” she answered.

  “Ms. Brewer, this is Scott McAllister. I have some bad news.”

  “Oh, god,” she muttered. “Don’t tell me…”

  “Don’t panic,” he stopped her. “I heard you found him. And I wanted to tell you he’s in a coma at Hart County Regional. There was a roof collapse today at…”

  “The bowling alley,” she interrupted him, her stomach lurching. “I was there. But he’s alive?”

  “He’s alive, but it doesn’t look good,” Scott said. “That’s why I called you. I figured you might want to go down there. You know… just in case.”

  “Thank you,” she said weakly.

  “Anytime,” he said. “And if you need anything, please don’t hesitate. Remember, I’m at station three.”

  “Got it,” Sarah said. “Thanks again.”

  She hung up the phone and immediately snatched up her purse and overcoat and flew out the back door toward her car without telling a soul she was leaving.

  Traffic was hellacious, and she had laid down on her horn impatiently more times than she’d have cared to admit. But after all the heartache, anxiety, terror and angst she’d experienced in a few short weeks, it was no wonder her fuse was unbearably short.

  Sarah glanced quickly in her rearview mirror and changed lanes, turning left into the hospital’s expansive parking lot. Despite its size, the parking lot was severely lacking in available spots. Every time she spotted one in another lane, someone would get to it before she could. Finally, she’d had enough. She bumped her front tires over the curb and turned off the engine. Ticket or not, she didn’t give a damn!

  Frazzled, she pushed her way past an elderly woman who was making her way to the information desk and breathlessly demanded, “Luke Hargrove’s room!”

  “Are you family?” the woman asked.

  “I… no, but…”

  “I can only give out patient information to family,” she said flatly. “Next.”

  The elderly woman stepped forward and tried to speak, but Sarah interrupted her and said, “Please, I’ve known Luke since we were teens. I need to…”

  “Family only!” the receptionist snapped. Then she turned to the elderly woman and said, “I’m SO sorry about that. How can I help you?”

  Dejected, Sarah slouched, her purse sliding down her shoulder and into the floor. She sighed and bent to retrieve it, and bumped heads with someone.

  “Ouch!” she cried, rubbing her throbbing head.

  “Gosh, I’m sorry!” the girl gushed, handing Sarah her purse. Then her eyes lit up with recognition and she smiled. “Hey, you’re Sarah, right? Luke’s friend from a long time ago!”

  Sarah frowned, taking the purse. Could this day get any worse?

  “Hi, Lacey,” she groaned.

  “Are you here to see Luke?” Lacey asked.

  “Yeah, but this… lady,” Sarah said, biting her tongue to keep from uttering a curse word, “refused to give me his room number.”

  “I’ll take you up!” Lacey chirped. “I think it would do him some good to have an old friend visit him!”

  Sarah couldn’t help but wonder if Lacey would be so helpful if she knew the feelings she had for Luke, but she said nothing. She simply followed the little mouse to the elevators, rolling her eyes behind the girl’s back.

  The elevator seemed to take an eternity to reach the fourth floor, but as it dinged and the doors slid open, Sarah was overwhelmed with anxiety. What would she say to him? She had no idea how to act, especially with his… ugh, fiancée, hanging around.

  Lacey pushed the door open and stepped inside. Sarah hung back, hesitating. Lacey turned and waved her inside.

  “Luke, there’s someone here to see you,” Lacey bent over and said into his ear. “Sarah, come here. Talk to him.”

  Sarah swallowed a lump and stepped closer to the bed. She placed her hand gingerly on the gleaming silver railing and tried to speak, but no words would come.

  “Do you want me to leave you alone?” Lacey asked.

  “I… uh…” she could hardly ask his fiancée to leave the room. It just wouldn’t be appropriate.

  “I’ll go,” Lacey said. “It seems like you need a moment.”

  Lacey backed out of the room and closed the door quietly behind her, and Sarah turned back to Luke. He was bruised and battered, his face swollen until he was almost unrecognizable. He was covered in wires and tubes, and he was on a breathing machine.

  “Um… Luke?” she croaked, barely able to speak. “It’s Sarah. I know you said we’d talk soon… I just didn’t imagine it would be like this.”

  Her knees were knocking, and she started to feel dizzy, so she pulled a chair over and sat beside his bed. She reached for his hand, but quickly withdrew it. He was engaged. She couldn’t.

  “Listen, I… well, I can’t really say what I want to say,” she told him. “I mean, you’re engaged and all. I guess you’re happy now. But when I heard you were…. That you had… Luke, I was scared. I’m still scared. You see… I’ve been missing something all my life. I never realized what it was. It was just this vast emptiness that’s always been there, you know?”

  She stopped herself, wondering how to proceed. Lacey was gone. It was just Luke and she there. Should she just say it? He probably couldn’t even hear her… could he?

  “Oh, what the hell,” she muttered. “It needs to be said. I’ve figured out what it is, Luke. It’s you. You’re the missing link. You’re the puzzle piece that’s been missing all these years. And when I saw you again, it’s like everything fit into place and life was complete! I know it sounds stupid, but that’s how I feel. I’ve always missed you. Not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t felt that. I just never realized… not consciously. Not all the time, anyway.”

  She glanced anxiously at the door, but it remained closed.

  “I don’t know if you can hear me, Luke,” she said quietly. “But I’m begging you to hold on. Fight. I know you’re engaged. I know we can’t be together. In fact, we may never even see each other again. But to think of living in a world without you… I can’t bear it. So I’m asking you to please, please fight and live.”

  She thought she saw a brief flicker of movement in his face, and she sat forward, watching him hopefully. But his face was stonily unmoving. She exhaled and slouched backward.

  “I hate to leave you,” she told him. “But I have to get back to work before anyone misses me. I’ll come visit you again.”

  She pulled herself reluctantly from the chair and started for the door. Then she turned around and planted a kiss on his cheek before leaving.

  She rode the elevator down, and she exited on what she thought was the ground floor. Immediately, she realized she’d actually gotten off in the basement. She turned to reenter the elevator, but the doors were sliding shut.

  “Damn,” she muttered, pushing the button to call it back.

  As she waited, she glanced around her. Then, through the glass wall that stood between her and the hospital cafeteria, she saw Lacey standing with a man. He brushed a hair away from her face and she smiled up at him. He leaned down and took her into his arms and lifted her off the ground, kissing her passionately. Her arms wrapped around his neck, clinging to him as if she would never let go.

  It can’t be, Sarah thought. With Luke possibly dying upstairs. She was smiling. She was happy. She was kissing another man while wearing Luke’s engagement ring prominently on her finger.

  “Are you getting on?”

  The woman’s voice startled Sarah, who hadn’t heard the elevator ding. She jumped and turned to face the woman, who was holding the elevator door open and staring at Sarah like she was deranged.

  “Oh… yeah,” she said absently. Then she stopped and said, “Actually, could you wait just one second?”

  As the woman sighed and rolled her eyes, Sarah pulled her phone from her purse and brought up the camera. As quickly as she
could, she snapped a picture of Lacey with her arms around her lover and her lips on his, the diamond on her finger glittering prominently. Then she stepped onto the elevator and the doors slid shut.

  Chapter Nine

  As her car rolled to a stop at a red light, Sarah answered her ringing phone. It was Donna, and she was frantic.

  “Where are you?” she gasped. “The boss is freaking out! We couldn’t find you anywhere!”

  “I had to… um… I went to the hospital to see if I could get anymore information about the firefighters who were injured at the bowling alley,” Sarah said quickly.

  “Oh,” Donna said. “Why the hell didn’t you tell someone before you left? You’re supposed to get clearance for that kind of thing!”

  “Sorry, I forgot,” Sarah said. “I’m new, remember?”

  “Ugh!” Donna growled. “When are you going to stop using that as an excuse? Just get back here, and I hope you got something!”

  “Damn!” Sarah cursed, slamming her open hand against her steering wheel. “I gotta get something.”

  She pulled into a fast food parking lot and pulled out her phone, thumbing through the short list of contacts she had acquired since starting her job. Then she spotted the number of a guy she’d met not long after being hired. She remembered he worked in the PR department at the hospital. She jabbed her finger on his name, and her phone began to dial.

  “Rick Sloan,” he answered moments later.

  “Rick!” she said fondly. “It’s Sarah Brewer from the Clarksville Post! We met a few weeks ago. Do you remember me?”

  “How could I forget?” he said smoothly. “You spilled coffee on my new tie at the Chamber of Commerce meeting.”

  “So sorry about that,” Sarah apologized, blushing.

  “Quite alright,” he told her. “I never mind it when a beautiful woman is indebted to me.”

  She flushed at the compliment and said, “Well, how would you like it if I were even more indebted to you?”

  “Hell, I’d love it!” he said. “But how would that come to be?”

  “Well, I’m looking for information about the people who were trapped at the fire at the bowling alley,” she said. “My boss is going to kill me if I don’t come up with something… anything. Can you help me out?”

  “I’ll certainly see what I can do,” he said. “But I doubt I can give you any names at this point.”

  “I don’t need names,” she told him. “Just more information about their conditions and such would be really helpful. I have a 4:30 deadline.”

  “Do you want me to text you with anything I find out?” he asked her.

  “That would be great,” she said. Then she added, “I’ll really be indebted to you now.”

  “Then let me go see what I can dig up,” he said, and she could hear him smiling through his voice. “I’ll text you ASAP. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  With satisfaction, she stuffed her phone into her purse and headed back toward work. All she could hope now would be that Rick would come through for her.

  “Tell me you got something,” Donna hissed, grabbing Sarah’s arm the moment she stepped through the door.

  “I got something,” Sarah said.

  “Thank god!” Donna whispered. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know yet?” Donna squeaked. “Fuller’s on a rampage!”

  “My contact at the hospital said he’d need some time to dig up the information,” Sarah said coolly. “I told him the deadline is 4:30. Don’t panic.”

  “Don’t panic, she says,” Donna groaned. “What if your contact doesn’t come through?”

  “He will,” Sarah said confidently.

  “How can you be so sure?” Donna demanded.

  “He will,” Sarah repeated.

  She pushed past Donna, who stood staring after her completely dumbfounded. Sarah closed her office door behind her and slouched in her chair, staring at her phone.

  Hurry up, she pleaded at her phone. Please, hurry!

  “Brewer!”

  Her boss’s voice boomed down the hallway like a fright train, rattling her office window. She winced. She quickly picked up her office phone and pretended to be listening to someone on the other line.

  Her door flew open and Mr. Fuller stood before her with his pulse throbbing in his temples and his nostrils flaring. He opened his mouth to shout, but Sarah quickly shushed him by putting her finger to her lips and then pointing at the phone. He snapped his jaw shut and glared at her through dramatically lowered eyebrows, but he backed silently from the room. She sighed with relief.

  Hurry up! she screamed silently at her phone.

  As if by magic, her phone chirped. She peered down at it.

  Got you a little bit of info. Hope it helps. They brought in four victims. Three are firefighters and one was the owner of the bowling alley. Old guy is in critical but stable condition. Two of the firefighters are struggling, but docs believe they’ll make it. The other firefighter… they aren’t hopeful. Sorry I can’t give names at this time. Hope that helps. Rick.

  She stared at the words over and over, but they said the same thing. The other firefighter… they aren’t hopeful. The other firefighter… they aren’t hopeful. The other firefighter…

  “Oh, my god, tell me you have something by now!” Donna pleaded, barging through the door.

  Sarah rattled her head, yanking herself back into the real world. She nodded.

  “You do? Thank god! What have you got? Names?”

  “No names,” Sarah said. “But conditions. And one of the victims is the owner of the bowling alley.”

  “So the old guy is alive?”

  “Yeah, and he’s in critical but stable condition.”

  “What about the firefighters?”

  “All critical. Two expected to make it. One…” she choked and swallowed hard before saying, “doubtful.”

  “Damn, that sucks,” Donna said. “Sorry you couldn’t get names. I know you’re worried about that guy you know.”

  “Let me get this sent to copyediting before Fuller comes back,” Sarah said.

  “Gotcha,” Donna said. “Keep me informed.”

  Sarah nodded, and Donna left the room. She quickly typed up the information she had and sent it off to copyediting and then breathed a sigh of relief. Glancing at the clock, she’d gotten it in a few minutes before the deadline.

  “Brewer!”

  That irritating voice bellowed again, and she opened the door just as he was reaching for the knob.

  “Come in, Mr. Fuller!” she smiled pleasantly. “I just sent off the information I got to copyediting!”

  “Did you forget you’re supposed to get authorization for any field trips?” he demanded. “Every… single… one!”

  “Yes, sir, I forgot,” she lied. “I just got a call to meet a contact at the hospital, and I was so excited I forgot all about it. It won’t happen again.”

  “It had better not,” he warned her. “You’re on thin ice!”

  “Yes, sir,” she agreed.

  “And this stuff you got better be good,” he said.

  “One of the victims is the owner of the bowling alley,” she said.

  “He’s alive? I figured he was one of the deceased.”

  “We all did, sir,” she told him. “He’s in critical, but stable condition. He’ll live.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “See if you can get an interview with him as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  “Good work, Brewer,” he told her. “But don’t you dare leave this office without authorization again!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The whole office rattled as he slammed the door behind him, and Sarah relaxed. I wasn’t long until she’d be off the clock and she could head to her grandmother’s house and think.

  After Sarah left work, she was headed back to her grandmother’s house when suddenly she
stopped the car in the middle of the road. A car honked loudly behind her, and as the raging driver sped around her, he flipped her off and mouthed something that looked suspiciously like, “Moron!”

  She pulled into the parking lot to her right and turned back, heading in the opposite direction. She couldn’t leave it as it was.

  The hospital had actually cleared out by the time she arrived. The crowd that had been there early seemed to have mostly gone home. The lights in the gift shop were already dimmed, though it wasn’t supposed to officially close for almost an hour according to the sign.

  She rode the elevator to the top floor and stopped just outside his room. She held up her hand to knock, but she quickly lowered it.

  What am I doing here? she thought.

  “You here to see him?” a voice asked.

  Sarah turned to see a nurse holding a file in her hand.

  “Oh… uh… yeah, but I don’t want to disturb his family,” she answered.

  “Nobody’s been in there with him for hours,” the nurse said. “Go on in. I’m sure he’d appreciate the company.”

  “What about his fiancée?” Sarah asked.

  The nurse frowned and said, “You’d think she’d be here, wouldn’t you? I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”

  Sarah turned back toward the door, but she only stared at it.

  “Go on it,” the nurse nudged her.

  Sarah slowly opened the door and stepped inside the somber room. It was dark, aside from the glowing numbers on the machines by the bed. The nurse slid the dimmer and the lights brightened slightly.

  As the nurse scribbled down readings from the monitors, Sarah slipped quietly into the chair at his bedside. She followed the swollen features of his face with her eyes and frowned.

  The nurse left without a word, closing the door behind her, and Sarah’s hand reached slowly toward Luke’s. Her fingers brushed against the side of his hand, and she stopped there.

  “Luke, it’s Sarah,” she said. “I don’t know why I’m here. I guess I shouldn’t be. But I just… I had to see you. I had to know if you were ok. Are you ok? I mean, I guess you aren’t considering the shape you’re in, but… I mean… are you ok? Like… inside?”