Chapter 19
Jesse
It’d been a week and Rusty was still recovering from the fire.
I put the bowl down in front of him. “Come on, boy, you gotta if you want to heal.” Rusty walked slowly over to his bowl and nibbled for a while.
The veterinarian said he would be fine, but he might be sluggish for a while.
I was supposed to watch his sleeping and eating patterns, just to make sure nothing in diet changed.
I poured myself a cup of coffee and stepped out onto the front porch. I could see what was left of the barn. It was a horrible mess and broke my heart all over again.
When I glanced across the porch, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.
Laida’s grandfather’s canvases were leaned against the banister.
I set my coffee down on the railing and picked them up to inspect them.
The bottom corners were burnt but you could still see the actual drawing.
Laida had a burn on her arm when they pulled her out.
I wondered if it happened while she was trying to save the canvases.
There were so many unanswered questions.
What the heck was she thinking? How did she get stuck in there?
Did she get stuck and then Rusty went after her?
Rusty was whining behind the screen door, so I opened it to let him outside with me.
He ran down the porch steps and over to the barn, lying down in front of it.
I slowly followed him and sat on the ground next to him.
“I know, boy. What happened? I sure wish you could talk right now.” He nudged my hand, so I’d pet him.
Rubbing his head, I said, “There you go. You’re a good boy. ”
I picked my head up and scanned the driveway when I heard a truck rumbling along the gravel. Ethan got out of the passenger side of Brady’s truck. “What do you want, Ethan? I don’t have the energy to fuck with you.”
He held his hands up. “Listen, I just came to say I’m sorry. What I did was fucked up and I didn’t mean to cause you and…” He cleared his throat, “Laida… any problems. I know I did, and I’m incredibly sorry for that.” Brady was standing behind him with his arms crossed, listening.
I could tell he was sincere, so I let go of the anger, but said, “Thanks. Don’t ever try some shit like that again.
” Ethan held his hands up in surrender. Brady wore a smirk on his face in the background.
Rusty walked past Ethan and went to Brady.
Even Rusty knows an asshole when he sees one and ignored Ethan like he wasn’t there.
“Hey boy,” Brady said as he rubbed his head. “How you holdin’ up?”
I answered him, “He’s doing good. Just sluggish.”
Just then, we heard the screen door open. All three of us looked toward the house. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at my reason for existing, standing on the porch. “Is she…” Ethan started to ask something.
“Laida’s okay. She’s been sleeping a lot, but this is the first time she’s come outside.” I ran up to her on the porch. “Baby, how’re you feeling?”
She looked up at me with tired eyes and said, “I’m fine. The fresh air is nice.” She tried to take a deep breath in and coughed. Thankfully, the coughing wasn’t as bad as the first day.
I reminded her, “Easy, slow breaths.” Her hair blew in the wind as she leaned into me, tired from the coughing fit, so I wrapped my arms around her, basking in her scent as I kissed her forehead. I’ll never take moments with her for granted, knowing I almost lost her.
Laida smiled at the guys as she held onto me. “Hi, Brady. Ethan.” It was great that she was up and moving around but just like Rusty, she was moving slowly.
Ethan walked to the bottom of the steps and said, “Laida, I’m sorry about what I did when Jesse was in the hospital. It was a dick thing to do.”
She smiled at him and said, “It’s okay.”
I quickly interrupted with, “It’s not…”
She smacked my chest. “Ethan, it’s okay. Let’s move on.”
We stood there in silence for a minute before I looked at Brady and Ethan. “If you guys don’t mind; I’m going to take the lady back inside.”
Brady said, “Say no more. We just wanted to check and see how the three of you were doing.” They said their goodbyes and took off. I turned to Laida and said, “Let’s go relax for a while, baby.”
Laida smiled and nodded so I picked her up in a cradle carry. She leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Come on, Rusty!” she called out. Rusty came moseying along.
I laid her back down in the bed and asked, “How are you feeling today?”
She smiled, “Better than yesterday.”
Rusty jumped on the bed and curled up at Laida’s feet. It was his spot the whole time she’d been resting up. She stayed in the hospital for a day and had been home for a couple days. Though, through most of it, she slept.
I just stared at her. I almost lost her. When I thought back to Brady and Ethan walking out of the barn carrying her and Rusty, I got misty-eyed. They weren’t moving. Barely breathing. I thought I’d lost them both.
As if Rusty could sense my emotions, he inched toward me and nudged my hand so he could lay between Laida and me. “You’re a good pup, Rusty.”
Laida cleared her throat and said, “I think he saved me.”
“What makes you say that?” She was finally ready to talk about it. She didn’t want to talk about it at all when she came home.
Laida stared off and spoke softly, “It was my fault. I waited too long to lock things down, and then I couldn’t find flashlights anywhere, so I used two candle jars.
It was all my fault.” She was tearing up, and it was breaking my heart.
“I saw my grandfather’s canvases near the flames, so I grabbed them and ran to the porch before they were destroyed.
I yelled for Rusty, but he didn’t come.” Rusty nosed her just then and laid his head on her lap.
“I saw a path, so I went back in to get him. Rusty stayed in front of me, despite me trying to cover him. He kept moving back in front of me.”
When she said that, I looked down at Rusty at the spot on his body where the fur was scorched and shorter from the burn. It was just on one side. He stayed in front of her and lost part of his coat because of it. They must’ve been so scared.
“I’m so sorry, Jesse.” Tears streamed down her face, so I wrapped my arms around her to cradle her.
“It’s alright. God, I love you so much.” I just blurted it out.
She sat up and looked at me. “What?”
“Laida, I love you. I’m in love with you. You and this amazing dog are my universe. When I thought I’d lost you both, all I could think about was not being able to tell you that I love you. I love you, Laida Sayavong.” She started crying again. “Hey, it’s okay.”
“No… I… I tried to tell the dispatcher to tell you I love you, but I couldn’t get it out before the smoke became too much.”
“She told the Chief and he told me. She got your message.”
“She did!?”
I smiled at her and said, “She did.”
“I love you so much, firefighter.”
Pulling her back into my arms again, I moved my hand to her face and kissed her. It was different. That kiss was forever. “I love you too, herbalist.”