Chapter Twenty-Seven
Emily
“Heard you were at the Gannon fire with Jake Thompson.” Dale taps his index finger on the ambulance steering wheel as he waits at the one stoplight in town. It’s a single flashing red light in the center of the intersection.
“He was at my mom’s house when the call came in.”
Mira, Dominic’s mother, walks across the street. She gives us a brief wave with a white package in her hand and continues her way to the other side. Likely, she’s on her way to the post office to drop off her mail.
The funny thing about a small town is that most of the time, you know what everyone is doing, and people don’t differ from their routines all that often. Except, instead of turning toward the post office, she stops in front of the café.
A man and a woman exit a Cadillac Escalade and join Mira in front of Jolie’s Café. Why’s Mira there? Who are these people? As Dale goes past the building, I turn my head and study them. Are they buying the café?
I snap my head back around. What in the actual fuck? It’s none of your business what they’re doing. You’re turning into a busybody like all the other older women in town. Next thing you know, you’ll be hanging out on the street corner gossiping with all the ladies.
“Are things okay between you two?” Dale steps on the gas as we travel back to the station from dropping off a patient at the nearest hospital.
I arch an eyebrow. “Between me and my mom?”
“Cute,” Dale smirks. “But you know what I mean, and if you’re going to all the trouble to avoid the conversation, I’m assuming it’s true.”
“What’s true?” My stomach drops as I cross my arms over my chest and give him my full attention.
“That you have a thing for Jake.”
“And where did you get that incorrect information from?”
“My keen sense of observation.” He flips on the blinker and turns past the fire station and onto the street that leads to the ambulance barn. The police department is half a block away, and of course, Jake’s pickup is parked in the lot.
“Well, you need to get your eyes checked. Maybe you need glasses. Some of those black rimmed, coke-bottle ones, because you don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t like Jake, and he isn’t interested in me.”
Dale backs into the parking space closest to the front door, causing the steady beeping of the backup signal to announce his progress. A bird swoops off the electrical line above us, dives down close to the ground, and then flies back up to land several feet away from its first perching place.
“He seems interested in you.”
“Bullshit.” I roll my eyes, unclasp my arms, and grip the door handle, causing the faint hint of my deodorant to fan out from under my armpit. “There’s nothing farther from the truth than that statement.”
He shoves the shifter into park and frowns. “Why not?”
“Because….” I inhale and straighten my shoulders. “Never mind.”
“Em….” He rests his hand on my shoulder. “Let me give you some advice. Men are stupid.”
“No shit,” I chuckle halfheartedly because thoughts of Jake and Amanda still spin in my head. As I unlatch the safety belt, he squeezes my shoulder and drops his arm down to his side.
“I’m serious. Guys do stupid things when we’re interested in a girl.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Did you?”
“Yes.” He rotates his shoulders as if wrestling with his own thoughts. “Before Tameka and I got together, I got into a fight with a guy who asked her out, and when she asked me why, I told her it was because he asked out a girl I liked.”
“Yes, her. That’s not so bad.” I wouldn’t hate it if Jake punched one of the losers I dated.
“No.” He shakes his head. “It wouldn’t have been bad, but when she asked who it was that he asked out, I said she didn’t know her.”
“And let me guess…. She went out with the guy because she was hurt.”
“Yes.”
I snap the door open. “Did you break up their date?”
“Yes, but not until the second one. I wallowed in self-pity for the first week and then got my head out of my ass and got the girl who’d wanted me all along.” He flexes his chest muscles. “She only went out with him because I’d hurt her feelings. As I said, men do stupid things, but so do women.”
A male voice comes over the radio. “This is Officer Thompson. We need an ambulance at the police station.”
The police station. Jake. And he needs an ambulance. My hand shakes as I slam the door closed and re-strap my seatbelt. Dale slings himself back into the driver’s seat and restarts the engine.
Dale maintains his composure as he pulls out of our parking space and flips on the lights. Please let everything be okay.
I swipe my hands on my pants as I survey the police parking lot for signs of distress. The only vehicle besides the parked police cruisers in the lot is Jake’s pickup and Ramirez’s vehicle.
“Take a deep breath,” Dale says calmly as he navigates out of our parking lot.
“I’m fine,” I snap with more force than intended. Shit. My knee pops up and down. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. If it were Tameka, I’d feel the same way.”
I don’t respond to his comment as he flips on the blinker and eases the ambulance into the station parking lot.
Jake opens the front door and waves. He looks the same–strong, muscular, and cleanly shaven, but his hair is sticking up in different directions as if he’s run his hands through it. The muscles in his jaw are tight, but there are no signs of physical distress.
Dale pulls to a stop, and I jump out. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” He shakes his head but appears rattled about something. Jake is never rattled. “No.” He opens the door wider. “Come inside.”
My legs feel like Jello as I follow him inside. I got out of the ambulance so fast that Dale is just now opening his door.
Three feet inside the police station is a box on the floor. A cardboard packing box with a newborn baby inside. A still, blood-coated baby wrapped in a soiled pink towel. I clutch my chest and shift my attention from the baby to Jake. “Is this yours?”
“Jesus, Em.” His stressed face transforms into anger as his hands curl into fists at his sides. “I told you I haven’t been with anyone, so unless the woman had a pregnancy that lasted over three years, there’s no way this is my child.”
“I’m sorry.” I straighten and step back. “It’s the first thing that popped into my head. I’ve clearly read too many romances with surprise babies dropped on the heroes’ front doorstep.”
“Well, what do we have here?” Dale strides through the door and steps between me and the box containing the baby.
“I thought I heard someone in the parking lot a few minutes ago. Before I could check, Mrs. Claypool called, and when I got off the phone, I’d forgot all about it.
” He rotates his neck. “Then I thought I heard a kitten crying. With the shelter not opening until later today, I thought someone might’ve dropped off an abandoned kitten.
Or one of the stray cats was looking for food. ”
I’m fairly certain he doesn’t realize he’s babbling.
“But you found an abandoned baby instead.” Dale stares into the box.
“Yes.” Jake runs a hand through his hair as I squat down in front of the box.
“When I was working in Columbia there were two abandoned babies dropped off at the fire station.” The anger on Jake’s face is still evident, but now, it’s directed at whomever dropped off the baby instead of my stupid mouth. “But I wasn’t expecting to find a baby outside the door.”
As they continue discussing the time frame for when Jake heard the noise, his phone call with Mrs. Claypool, and the subsequent discovery of the abandoned baby. I wrinkle my nose and unwrap the first layer of the towel as the baby lets out a weak whimper.
The baby is unclothed except for the towel. As I peel the towel back, a piece of paper comes into view.
“There’s a note.” I retrieve the notebook paper and hand it to Jake without bothering to look at it. The baby is the most important thing at this point.
There’s a faint coating of blood crusted along its skin.
The umbilical cord is hanging across the newborn’s stomach.
I tilt my head and scan from head to toe.
There’s some soiling underneath the baby on the towel.
A baby girl. Her arms and legs move as she cries.
Her skin is reddish, indicating she’s under 24 hours old.
Who left her here? How could they have left her here? After quickly feeling her extremities, I pull her from the box as she continues to wail and hold her to my chest, not caring for a second that I’m getting dirty. Because comforting this baby is the only thing that matters.
My heart melts as I hold her to my chest and look into those enormous brown eyes. “Sweet baby, I’m so sorry.”
Jake reads the note out loud. “I can’t take care of this baby. Please give her to someone who can.”
My heart cracks in two at the words. How could someone abandon their baby? I know it happens, and it likely is the best thing that could’ve happened to the baby if the mother’s living situation is bad, but…
I block out the rest, holding the baby tighter and shifting into professional mode. “Dale, can you get a blanket out of the ambulance and put a call in to the hospital? It looks like we’re making another trip to the city.”