Page 53 of Five Minute Man
Adam knew just the building he was talking about; Holly had shown it to him when she had given him a tour of her place. It was situated to the left of the cottage, an old wooden structure in remarkably good condition, where Holly kept her gardening tools.
“The building was destroyed, but we got there in time to keep it from spreading to anything else.”
“What about Holly? You said she was hurt. How bad? Did you see her?”
“Yeah, I saw her,” Brandon said, his tone grave. “I’ve definitely seen her look better, but all in all, she was very lucky. She got banged up pretty good. Ended up with a couple of broken bones, cracked ribs, and a possible concussion, but it could have been a lot worse. A fire extinguisher was found not too far away from where she landed. She must have smelled the smoke and gone out to investigate. The chief thinks she was near the door when the place blew. The blast knocked her across the yard, but that was probably a good thing. It kept her away from the fire till we could get there.”
“Jesus.” Adam closed his eyes and tried not to picture it in his mind as his stomach twisted. “But she’s okay?” He needed to hear it one more time. If anything happened to Holly ...
“She’ll live. The hospital wanted to keep her overnight, but she signed herself out. Liz tried to talk her out of it, but Holly threatened to call a cab if Liz didn’t give her a ride home.”
Yeah, that sounds like Holly, Adam thought. “Liz is staying with her, I hope?”
Brandon nodded. “She was, until Holly’s family started arriving this morning.”
Adam frowned, remembering the little bit Holly had revealed about her family. She would probably appreciate Liz’s company more.
“What about Max?” The dog was Holly’s shadow, and if she had been affected, then he probably had been, too.
“Some singed fur, but none the worse for wear. Holly was really worried about him, though, so I told her I’d look out for him until she got back home. It was the only way she’d get in the ambulance.”
“Max is here?”
“He was. I took him back first thing this morning. He was lost without Holly, and Liz said she needed him, too.”
Adam sipped the cold water Brandon handed him. “And where was I during all this?” Adam finally asked, his voice quiet.
Brandon inhaled and exhaled deeply before replying. There was such pain on the kid’s face that Adam knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“I tried calling you to tell you what happened, but it went right to voicemail. When I got back from the firehouse, there was a message on the house machine from Paul up at the Lakeside Pub. He said he had to take your keys and that your truck was in the lot.
“Something didn’t seem right,” Brandon said, looking at his hands, “so I drove up there myself. Paul said you were in bad shape and that some chick gave you a ride home. After he described what she looked like, I knew who it was. What were you thinking, meeting up with Eve like that?”
Adam sighed and took a drink, his hand shaking enough that he had a hard time keeping it from sloshing over the sides. Some of the fog seemed to be receding and things were coming back to him little by little.
“I wasn’t. Eve said she needed to talk to me. I said no, but she was persistent. She said, if I met her for one drink and heard her out, she’d leave me alone for good.”
Brandon’s eyes widened in disbelief. “And youbelievedher?”
“Not really. But she knew about Holly. I was afraid she’d start stalking Holly like she did the last woman I took out to dinner, and I didn’t want to take the chance that it would have the same consequences.”
“Holly wouldn’t have given up so easily, Uncle Adam.”
“I know. At least, I hoped I did. But I still didn’t want Eve anywhere near her.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I thought maybe I could prevent that from happening. I should have known better.”
Brandon appeared to think about that, then nodded. “Okay. So, what happened then? After you got there, I mean.”
“I don’t know,” Adam said, frustration heavy in the words. “I agreed to one drink, and that was all I had. Eve was spouting all kinds of crazy shit. I got up to leave, not feeling so good. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in my own bed, feeling like this. How did that happen, by the way?”
“After I talked to Paul, I called your phone again, hoping it wasn’t too late to stop you from making a big mistake. Eve answered. She said you and her were back together. I demanded to talk to you, but she said you were in the shower and couldn’t come to the phone.”
Adam closed his eyes, coming to the sickening realization that those images he had thought were nightmares probably weren’t.
“Then what?” he whispered with resignation.
Brandon looked down at his hands, unable to meet his uncle’s gaze. “I didn’t believe her. You seemed so happy lately, all because of Holly. After hearing you talk about Eve and how obsessive she was, I just couldn’t see you leaving Holly and going back to her like that.”
“I wouldn’t,” Adam agreed, glad that despite how things looked, the kid still had some faith in him.
