Page 79 of Her Paramedic
Talia laughed as she picked up another roll, and they changed the conversation to their parents coming to visit during the summer while classes were out. They typically came home mid-summer and then for Thanksgiving. She and Kaydence usually went to see them at the beginning of the year, but since they’d stayed longer than usual to attend Kaydence’s wedding, they hadn’t gone that year.
Once they finished eating, Talia took some pain medicine before going to get her phone. Sure enough, she had a text from Slate.
Slate:I know you’re probably asleep, but I made it to work. Text me when you wake up. Call me if you need something.
Talia:You’re right. I was asleep. I slept longer than I meant to. I’m fine. Kaydence is here, and we had lunch together. I’ll call you when you get off.
Talia went into her living room and found her sister sitting on the couch, looking for a movie to watch. She sat down before laying her head in Kaydence’s lap.
“You still don’t know where Slate is taking you for your mini-vacation.”
“No, and I’ve resigned myself to not knowing.”
“I’m sure you’ll enjoy wherever it is.”
Talia nodded in agreement as her sister chose a movie before propping her feet up on the table and gently scratching Talia’s scalp. She was sure that if she had not just woken up, the action would have soon resulted in her falling asleep again.
23
Talia sat lounging on Slate’s couch, watching a movie while she waited for him to get off work. She’d driven up the evening before to visit, even though he had to work all week. The previous weekend, he’d helped Killian move, and she’d only seen him for a few hours then. She was aware she could have waited until they went on vacation the following weekend, but she hadn’t wanted to, and he didn’t mind her visiting after her last appointment on Saturday.
She was waiting for him to get off so she could spend more time with him before she left. She was having a late dinner with Alivia when she got back to Colorado Springs. Talia would head straight there from Slate’s house.
When the movie ended, she went into the kitchen to wash off some grapes and grab something to drink. Once back in the living room, Talia flipped through channels, stopping on live news coverage of a fire at an apartment complex several minutes later. She was about to continue perusing the channels when she saw Slate and Jonah in the background, checking on someone as they gave them oxygen.
She listened to the broadcaster as they reported on the two buildings on fire. The fire of the first slowly spreading to the second one. There was a loud crack, and one roof caved in. The reporter was giving a rundown on what was happening, but Talia wasn’t hearing any of it as she watched her boyfriend’s head snap toward the building before he began running toward it.
“What are you doing?” she asked the room softly.
Her stomach dropped as he entered the building. It was a feeling akin to what she’d felt when she’d learned her sister had tussled with a bank robber. She’d moved to the edge of the couch without realizing it as she watched and waited, leg bouncing in anxiety.
Minutes that felt like days ticked by as her eyes stayed glued to the screen. Talia wasn’t even sure she was blinking. There was another loud sound, and more of the building caved in.
“Come on. Come on. Come out,” she softly whispered over and over.
It was another minute that felt like an eternity before he came out with two children in his arms, and Talia breathed a sigh of relief, her heartbeat slowly returning to normal. She watched Slate pass the children off to other paramedics on the scene as reporters swarmed him. Talia could see a cut on his cheek under his eye, bleeding through the soot. It was all she could make out and note before the reporters were in his face, asking him what made him run inside the building.
She didn’t hear his response as she picked up her phone, her first instinct being to call him, but she knew he couldn’t answer right then. Instead, she sent him a text asking him to call her when he could. She hesitated a second before calling Alivia to tell her they might need to reschedule. She wanted to make sure that Slate was okay. When her friend didn’t answer, Talia left a voicemail. However, she knew her friend had a bad habit of checking them days later, so she also sent her a text.
Her appetite gone, she took her bowl of fruit back into the kitchen and put it away. She returned to the living room and turned the channel, settling on some movie—anything to help keep her mind off of her boyfriend running headfirst into a burning building with no safety gear. While he seemed fine from what she saw, anything could have happened.
It wasn’t working; she glanced at her phone every couple of minutes. Realistically, she knew it would be a while before he could call her, but that didn’t stop the constant glances.
When her phone rang half an hour later, she snatched it up, even though she expected to see Alivia’s name flash across the screen. It wasn’t. She answered the phone faster than she thought possible when she saw Slate’s name.
“Baby, are you okay?” she immediately asked upon answering.
“You saw the news,” he responded.
“Yes. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, baby.”
“Did you get hurt? Besides the cut on your face?”
“There’s a cut on my arm, some bruising on my side. Nothing major,” he replied.
“Did you go to the hospital? Which one are you at? I’ll come and—”
