Page 15 of Loving Trent
“I was so scared. I went to the gym looking for you, and the receptionist looked at me with a sad look. I just knew deep in my soul that something was wrong. She said there was a fire, and I just ran out of there, not listening to anything else she said.”
“I should have called. I apologize. I knew you got in late last night, and I didn’t want to worry you since I was okay,” I say, grabbing her hand and leading her to the couch. “How did you know where I was?”
When I was ready to leave, the nurses called me a cab, and I went straight home to get my car. Luckily, my laptop was sitting in the front seat, making it easy to find a place to stay on Airbnb after a quick stop at McDonald's to use their internet. After I told the owner of this house what had happened, they understoodmy need to be let in so early. They met me at five this morning, handed me the keys, and even gave me a discount.
“I saw your car parked outside,” Mom says, leaning into me like she fears I will disappear if she isn’t touching me. “What the hell happened?”
I shrug my shoulders and proceed to tell her everything that happened, including the stranger who risked his life to save mine. I try to sugarcoat that had he not seen me, I wouldn’t be here, but of course, she saw right through it. That caused another round of tears and her verbal thanking of the man’s presence. I won’t know what caused the fire until the investigation is complete. I’m sure it will be ruled an accident, or at least I hope so.
“What’s his name?” Mom asks, leaning back against the couch’s arm and finally relaxing.
“I don’t know, but I will find him.” I don’t tell her that the more I think about it, the more I worry that I made him up. Because I hope that isn’t the truth. My first call this morning is going to be the fire station that responded, and then the police. If someone else was there last night, they have to know. I’m sure there will be a name in a report.
“Yes, we will. We owe that man so much more than a thank you. Oh, by the way, I?—”
Mom’s sentence is cut off by a ping of her phone and the sound of someone running up the stairs leading to the front door. A loud sigh falls from my lips as my eyes close. I know those stomps, so I brace myself for the tornado heading my way. The front door slams open, and my little sister storms in, tears streaming down her face. It will do me no good to say anything or get up, so I just open my arms and wait.
“I’m fucking pissed at you,” Sammy yells, but just like Mom, she rushes into my arms, and I pull her close. I stroke her wild blonde hair and whisper that I’m sorry and that I’m okay.
The tornado of pissed-off people isn’t done, so I just wait. Then they all come one by one through the door. All with their eyes trained on me and anger rolling off them, thickening the air around us.
“A fucking fire—” Zak says, storming in, holding a crying Dylan in his arms. Her face is buried in his neck, and I know she won’t look at me, even if I try to get her to. I scared her, and that makes me feel like the worst uncle in the world.
“And you didn’t think—” Parker–my other best friend–says, stopping beside Zak.
“To call any of—” Emilee, Parker’s wife and my cousin, says through tears as she crosses the room to sit beside me and throws her arms around me.
“Your family, you—” Levi, Emilee’s younger brother, says.
I wish Levi signaled the end of people who are mad at me, but of course, he isn’t.
“Asshole,” Adam, Emilee’s older brother, finishes the sentence. What the fuck? Did they all plan to say a part of the same sentence? If not, it’s awe-inspiring and scary at the same time.
But Adam isn’t the last one to walk through my door, hurt by my actions. No, Sonny and Sandra are standing side by side, holding hands. Sonny’s eyes are narrowed on my face, looking disappointed and relieved simultaneously. Sandra is crying with relief. Roger, Sandra’s husband, walks up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.
Carly, Adam’s pregnant wife, and Tiffani, Levi’s wife, are the last two through the front door. They close the door and calmly walk toward us. “I see you are okay,” Carly says. Nodding is all I can do thanks to the emotions clogging my throat. Every member of my family, minus our Nana, Leon, and Jenna, dropped everything they were doing this morning because of me. Because of their love for me.
“Good. Then, when we all whoop your ass, it won’t hurt you that much,” Tiffani says, putting her hands on her hips.
This apartment is on the small side, but everyone finds a place to sit, whether on the floor or in dining chairs. Seeing as how Sammy still has a death grip on my shirt, I settle against the couch, taking a deep breath. I only tell them about the fire because it’s too embarrassing to tell them about Steven. Once I’m done, Dylan is the first one to speak up.
“Were you scared?” Dylan asks, still sitting on Zak’s lap but finally looking at me.
“Yes,” I admit.
“But an angel saved you,” she says, nodding to herself more than to us. She looks at Sonny and Roger with the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen. “Just like Grandpa Sonny and Grandpa Roger saved me and Mommy from the fire.”
A shiver races down my spine at the mention of the fire that almost took my sweet niece and loving sister away from me. To save herself and Dylan, Sammy set an abandoned warehouse on fire. She didn’t know that it would go up as fast as it did. They barely made it out alive. I notice that I’m not the only one affected by the memory. Zak’s jaw ticks, and his arms tighten around Dylan.
“Yeah, Sweetie. I was sent an angel, and he saved me.”
Dylan pushes off Zak’s lap, walks over, and pats my cheek. “We need to find him. I have to thank him for saving my favorite uncle. Plus, you smiled when you thought of him. Maybe he’s the one. You know the one for you. Like Daddy is for Mommy. Not like Steven.”
Her innocent outlook on the world brings a smile to my face. More people need to see the world through Dylan’s eyes. I hold out my arm, and Dylan finally lets me hold her. Sammy moves to stand, with the help of Mom, because she is about ready to givebirth. Dylan snuggles closer, and I soak up her love. “Who knows what the future holds, Dyl.”
Mom and the girls decide we need a family lunch since we’re all here. Since there is no food to be found in the kitchen, I hand over my card to Mom, who promises to pick up a new phone for me while they are out. Adam and Levi jump straight into asking what I’m going to do about the apartments. When I tell them I’m hoping that I will be able to rebuild if the building itself is safe, they start talking amongst themselves about the possibilities. After the death of their grandpa, the man who raised them and turned out to be my grandpa, they took over Hill Construction and have made a considerable name for it in the Bootheel. I leave them at the table and search for the one person who can help me track down this angel, as everyone has been calling him. I find Sonny and Roger outside smoking.
“You know you should have called your mother,” Sonny says as I close the door, without taking his gaze off the Mississippi River.
