Page 34 of When You Saved Me

“Do you like it here?” The words were out before my muddled mind could stop them. I blamed it on the fever and not the growing curiosity I had for her.

There was no hesitation with her answer. “It’s exactly what I hoped it would be. Wide open spaces brimming with nature’s life and wonders. The decision to move away from the city was something I sat with for a long time before pulling the trigger.” She let loose a breathy sigh as she combed her fingernails over my scalp, sending a ray of goosebumps down my arms. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Did you grow up in a city?”

The cold pack on my forehead slid a little bit as I nodded.Charlie moved it back into place before she rubbed my temples in slow circles. “Charlotte, actually.”

“Oh really? I mean, obviously I knew you lived there at some point, but I didn’t know you werefromCharlotte.”

“Yup. My folks are still there, and they love it. It just never made sense for me. I always felt claustrophobic with all the people and big buildings. I didn’t understand the allure of being on top of everyone else, especially when you’re surrounded by strangers who hardly take the time for a good morning greeting.”

“Yeah, that part was difficult for me too. I had plenty of friends, but after the fire…I don’t know. They just seemed to kind of disperse and move on with their lives while I was stuck in the hospital for weeks.” The sad notes in her voice made me angry. Her ray of sunshine was clouded by rain, and I hated it. I found myself wanting to find every single one of those people who made her feel alone during that time and punish them.

The anger had my head throbbing, but I didn’t care. I hated that Charlie had ever felt that way. And I hated myself for not checking on her in the hospital.

My fire chief had told me she was in the same hospital as me when he and the rest of the guys came to visit me. I’d asked about her then but couldn’t find the courage to seek her out. I thought she would have hated me and seeing her in a hospital bed because of my doing…it had been too much.

I wanted to tell her that I made a mistake back then. That I should have visited her if only to make sure she was recovering well.

I wanted her to know that I saw her. Every freckle on her beautiful face. The subtle way her nose wrinkled when she laughed at something. How the crystalline blue of her eyes reminded me of Bahamian waters—so stunning they didn’t seem to belong in this world.

I wanted to tell her everything…

Instead, I just sat in silence as I watched her, those eyes that had haunted my dreams and many waking moments well with tears.

Chapter 13

Charlie

I worked hard to focus on the positive things in my life. The fire taught me how precious life was and I didn’t want to waste a single moment of the time I’d been given.

But there were moments when I let myself feel the sorrow from the losses that came with that day. Seeing my friends disappear one-by-one had been heartbreaking as I sat in that hospital bed trying to be brave for my parents. Their worlds were rocked when they saw on the news that my building had gone up in flames.

The morning after, when I had woken up and saw their faces for the first time, I knew I needed to keep it together for them. I was their only child, their entire world.

But I wished that I had a safe place to land where I could have fallen apart. A friend…a partner…anyonewho could have carried the burden for me for a little while.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away. I wasn’t back in that place anymore. I’d gotten out andmy new home was shaping up to be my biggest adventure yet.

“No one should have to go through something like that alone, Charlie. All those people who you thought were your friends and didn’t show up when you needed them most don’t understand what they were missing out on. Because you’re wonderful, Charlie. And they should have fucking been there.”

He wasn’t looking at me, but I could see the stern conviction in his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. A muscle feathered along his jawline like he was trying to work his frustration down.

“You say that, but you also slammed your door in my face.” I wasn’t sure what came over me, but it felt good to say the one thing I’d been wanting to say since I arrived in Pebble Brook Falls. Deacon’s welcome had been anything but warm and while he was starting to show me a different side of him, I was raised to demand respect. I had let him get away with giving me whiplash for too long already.

Drops of cold water slid onto my leg from the cold pack as it slid off Deacon’s forehead when he rose to a sitting position.

“What’re you doing? You need to be laying down,” I barked at him.

When he turned around so he was facing me, I could see the struggle it took for him to sit up. He was so sick and despite the question I asked him and the growing frustration from our confusing interactions, I hated seeing him so vulnerable.

I moved to grab his hands and urge him to lay back down, but he quickly grasped my wrists with speed I didn’t think he was capable of by the looks of him. His grip loosened a little as he slid his hands downward, and his thumbs were rubbing circles on the inside of my palms.

The feeling sent tiny sparks up my forearms and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and bask in how it felt to have part of me held by him.

“You should really lay back down,” I whispered, not able to find the full volume of my voice from the bewitching circles he scribed into my palms.

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