Page 14 of The Complication
But right now, the things I needed to worry about were Joy and finding a permanent job with excellent health care. My contract with Courtland Enterprises was going to be up in less than a week. If I didn’t find a way to wow Declan, this place was going to join the ranks of the dozen other companies I’d completed contract work for and left in my rearview mirror.
Of course, getting a full-time job at Courtland Enterprises meant becoming another data donkey. A numbers drudge. The idea made my soul shrivel up. This was not the life I’d wanted for myself.
Joy squealed and blew bubbles, drawing my gaze to her and her adorable smile.
I’d do it for her, though. If it meant giving her a safe, happy, healthy life, I’d do it for her.
6
DECLAN FOSTER
I frownedat my phone for what felt like the hundredth time, but frowning did nothing to fix my indecision.
Parker’s last week at Courtland Enterprises was complete, and he was gone, no longer a temporary employee. The fear that had tried to choke me over our potential discovery had dissipated as I’d watched Parker wave good-bye to the friends he’d made in my department.
On his last day, several coworkers had thrown him an impromptu baby shower, blessing him with many gifts fit for the little princess who now owned his life.
That was the thing.
He had a baby now to occupy his free hours. There was no way he still wanted to meet for our sexy nights.
Yet tomorrow was Sunday, and we always got together on Sunday evenings for sex. If one of us wasn’t free, we would text the other.
Parker hadn’t texted me yet. He hadn’t texted me all day. Had he forgotten what day of the week it was? Was he assuming that I would know that our arrangement was at an end because of the new complication in his life?
But what if it wasn’t canceled? People with children stillhad sex. Maybe not as much as when they didn’t have children, but it was my understanding that they didn’t suddenly become completely sexless creatures after their spawn was born.
The only way to ease my mind was to call him. Texting would only leave me hanging in limbo until he looked at his phone.
Parker answered my call on the second ring, but the shrill cry of sirens and shouting briefly drowned his voice out.
I lurched to my feet as my heart squeezed. “Parker!” I shouted. What the hell was happening? Where was he?
“D-Declan?” Parker’s voice was choked, and his words wobbled as they finally leaked across the line. “Help…”
“Where are you? What’s going on?”
“F-ffire. There’s a fire. My apartment is on fire.”
He’d barely gotten the first word out, and I started moving. I snatched up my wallet and keys before running to the garage. “Where are you? Are you somewhere safe?”
“We’re outside. Near the front gate. We…we went to see Molly’s parents. They fly home today. I wanted to give them a chance to spend time with Joy. But we just got home…the entire building is on fire. I…I don’t know what to do. Declan, I…I don’t know…”
I stopped and grabbed the doorway to steady myself. Relief washed through me so violently that it left me dazed. I shook my head and resumed my trek to my SUV.
“Parker, I’m on my way there. Take Joy away from the apartment complex and out of the sun. I’ll call the moment I get there.”
“O-okay.” There was a long pause that left me feeling like he wanted to say something else. Just as I was about to hang up. Parker added in a soft voice. “Please hurry.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
The drive from my house to Parker’s apartment normally took thirty minutes in moderate traffic. Somehow I made it inless than twenty minutes, and the entire drive was a blur. My brain kept replaying the sound of Parker’s lost and fractured voice as he was trying to remain pulled together, but it had seemed as if holes were forming in his resolve with every passing second. I needed to get there and help him. If the fire was as bad as it sounded, he stood to lose all his personal possessions on top of losing his best friend just a couple of weeks ago.
No, he couldn’t be left alone any longer than necessary.
I parked as close as I could to the apartment complex. It was a compound of two dozen buildings ringed by a series of parking lots for the residents. Trees surrounded the grounds, but that summer greenery did nothing to hide the black smoke billowing into the sky, blotting out the sun. Dozens of people crowded the sidewalk, watching from a safe distance as at least one building burned. Judging by the amount of smoke pouring out, I was inclined to believe the fire had spread to at least one other building, if not more.
As I started toward the entrance to the complex, I pulled my phone out to call Parker but stopped as soon as I spotted him at the edge of the crowd under an oak tree. Joy was in his arms as he rocked her. Her little carrier seat was on the ground next to Parker, along with her travel bag. The baby looked fine as far as I could tell, but Parker was frighteningly pale as his wide eyes remained locked on the smoke.
