Chapter 34 Zandra
THIRTY-FOUR
Zandra
“Callum,” I whispered hoarsely. My throat felt like I’d swallowed razor blades, and my head throbbed. But the man looking down at me was the best thing I could’ve hoped to see. I reached out for him, and he caught my hand in his.
“Hey.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m here.”
We were in an ambulance, the world swaying as we moved through the night. My lungs were on fire. Every cough sent sharp spikes of pain through my chest. I was just relieved that Callum was with me.
I kept pushing at the oxygen mask, wanting to speak even though it hurt. “Callum,” I whispered again.
“Don’t try to talk,” an EMT said. He secured the mask back over my nose and mouth.
Callum leaned in again. “I know these guys, okay? They’re taking good care of you.”
“Shouldn’t have you back here at all,” the EMT muttered.
“But I’m too much trouble to contain me in the front seat.
” He smiled down at me. “We’re on our way to Hart County General, and the firefighters are getting the fire at the brewery under control.
There’s going to be some damage, but it looks like they’ll save the building, okay? You don’t have to worry about that.”
Tears started streaming down my cheeks, and I reached out to hold onto him. The memories were coming back in fragments. One minute I was trying to subdue the flames with the fire extinguisher, and the next I couldn’t breathe.
Then Callum had appeared like something out of a dream.
He’d saved my life. That thought kept circling through my mind, leaving me completely overwhelmed.
The thought of Hearthstone burning to the ground had been terrifying, but when Callum had suddenly been there wrapping his arms around me, any relief at seeing him had been matched with terror at the thought of him being hurt.
I’m sorry, I tried to say silently with my eyes. I love you.
Callum kissed my hand and stroked my hair. “It’s going to be okay.”
I needed that to be true. But having Callum here did a lot to give me faith.
The hospital was a blur of bright lights and urgent voices. The oxygen mask switched to a tube beneath my nose as I went through examinations and tests. Somehow Callum charmed the nurses into letting him come along with me everywhere I went.
I was worried Callum was hurt and kept nodding at the nurses and pointing at him, wanting him to get checked out too. But he waved that away. “I’m fine, baby. Not a scratch on me. You’re the one I’m worried about.”
After I was rolled back to my room in a hospital bed, a doctor finally appeared to speak with me.
The doctor glanced at her chart. “Ms. Alvarez, you’ve suffered smoke inhalation from the fire.
Your oxygen levels are stable now, and your airways didn’t suffer as much damage as they could have, but you have some inflammation in your lungs and throat.
That’s why speaking is so difficult and painful right now.
You’ll need to rest your voice for the next several days.
We’ve started you on some medications to clear those airways, and we’ll monitor you overnight to make sure there are no complications.
The good news is that with rest and proper care, you should make a full recovery. ”
“That’s very good news,” Callum said, squeezing my hand. I nodded.
“The police are here as well, and I know they’d like to speak with you. If you’re feeling up for that, and only if that’s the case, I’m willing to let them come in.”
Callum started to protest. “I’ll go talk to them. But Zandra needs to rest, not deal with—”
I gripped his arm, nodding. He frowned, but said, “Okay. We’ll talk to the police.”
The doctor dipped her chin. “I’ll send them in to talk with you and your fiancee.” She left the room.
Fiancee? I gave Callum a look, and he grinned. “Easier to talk my way into staying by your side if I was your betrothed.”
He was so ridiculous, and I loved everything about him. Even if fiancee was really skipping ahead. That wasn’t the priority right now, though.
With my hand, I made a gesture like I was writing. Callum figured it out and passed me his phone with the notes app open. I typed as quickly as I could.
Ian. He was there. Broke in. Wanted money from safe.
Callum’s expression hardened. Yet he didn’t look surprised. “He’s dead. I’m gonna kill him.”
Not worth it.
“You could have died, Z.”
I don’t think that part was Ian’s fault.
As for what had really happened, it was hard to know where to begin. Just that small amount of typing on the screen was tiring me out and making my head hurt worse.
Callum seemed to notice, putting his hand over mine. “Don’t push yourself, okay?”
Police Chief Susan Nichols came in a few minutes later. She was a middle-aged woman with graying hair pulled back in a practical ponytail and a kind demeanor.
“Well, honey, you’ve had quite a night,” she said, settling into a chair beside my bed. “I’m going to turn on my body cam to record our conversation. Ready?”
I nodded.
“Good. Now, can you tell me what happened tonight at Hearthstone Brewing?”
I took Callum’s phone again and began typing slowly. It took a while to get the sentences the way I wanted them.
My ex-boyfriend Ian was at Hearthstone wanting money from the safe. I was trying to get away from him, and that’s when I realized the building was on fire.
Chief Nichols read the message aloud and frowned. “This Ian. What’s his last name?”
Ian Vanderwall.
“The coward left her there to fend for herself.” Callum’s voice was tight with anger. “I saw him running from the scene as I drove up.”
I reached over and took his hand, squeezing it.
“And you don’t think Ian set the fire?” Nichols asked.
I wrote my response.
That wouldn’t make any sense. He wanted money from the safe. Why would he burn down the building?
“Any idea where this Ian is staying?”
I shook my head but tapped out another note.
My parents might know where he is.
Callum spoke up. “Chief, there’s someone else who could be a suspect. Tommy Pickering. He’s been bothering Zandra the last few weeks. Showing up at the brewery or outside our place like he might be following her. There was that broken window at the brewery last month.”
“You think that could’ve been him? You didn’t report it?”
“He hasn’t admitted to anything except seeing Zandra around, and we had nothing to go on but suspicion. But Hearthstone has security cameras. You need to check the recordings. Find out exactly who was there.”
She dipped her chin with a nod. “My people are at Hearthstone right now with the fire department, and we’ll see about getting the hard drive for the cameras.
We’re working with the fire marshal to determine the origin and cause of the fire.
Could be arson, but it’s too early to tell. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
When Nichols left, Callum turned to me, his face dark with anger. “I never should have left you alone at the brewery tonight.” Then he shook his head. “I mean, you needed space, and I can respect that. But it just…Z, the thought of almost losing you…”
Tears pricked my eyes. I wished I could erase that stupid fight. I typed on the notes app.
I know. Same. I’m so sorry about everything tonight. I said things I didn’t mean.
“I’m sorry too. I screwed up by not talking to you before I got in touch with Manny about the job. But we can talk about that later.” Callum took the phone from my hands and leaned down to kiss me softly. “All that matters is we’re both here and we’re safe. You should try to get some sleep.”
“You’ll stay with me?” I whispered, followed by a fit of coughing.
“If they want me out, they’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming.” He settled back in the chair beside my bed. “You know what a pain in the ass I can be.”
A pain in the ass I’m completely in love with, I thought to myself.
There was so much more I wanted to say to him. But I didn’t want to tell Callum how I felt over a notes app. That would have to wait.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest.
Callum and I slept off and on. When morning came, a booming voice pulled me from a doze. “Where is she? Where’s my granddaughter?”
“I think Manny’s arrived,” Callum muttered, sitting up and rubbing his face.
A moment later, Grandpa stormed into the room on his cane, moving surprisingly fast. Rosie came in behind him with a wheelchair. “Pa, you need to sit down. The nurse said—”
“I’m too upset to sit down,” he declared.
A nurse popped her head in. “Two visitors only, please.”
Thankfully my headache wasn’t pounding as much as last night, but this wasn’t helping.
Rosie sighed. “I’d better get back to the waiting room and wrangle Eliza and Javi. It’s a zoo out there, and I have the feeling Jimmy will instigate something if I leave him alone with your parents much longer.”
I looked at Grandpa in surprise. My Mom and Dad were here?
He seemed to read my expression. “Of course they’re here,” Manny said, finally lowering himself into the chair.
“Half of Hearthstone’s staff is out there, plus a bunch of other people I barely know, and your parents are near hysterical.
At least your mother is. But I insisted on coming in first.” He studied my face with sharp eyes.
“Hearthstone Brewing has been around for thirty years, and nothing so catastrophic as last night has ever happened.”
Crushing guilt hit me all over again, even though I still had no idea how that fire had started.
My ex had tried to rob the place. And that was far from the only suspicious incident that had occurred at the brewery since I came back to town.
“I’m so sorry, Grandpa,” I whispered.
“Manny, you’re out of line.” Callum’s brows creased as he reached for my hand. I knew he didn’t want me to talk, but I’d had to say that out loud.
Somehow, I had brought this on Hearthstone.
“Callum, you can stay out of this. Zandra, I want you to listen to me.” Grandpa got up from the chair, wobbling to my bedside. He narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Are you listening?”
I nodded, bracing myself for whatever he was about to say.
“I’d happily see every possession of mine go up in flames before losing you. You hear me? Don’t talk again. Just nod.”
I did, feeling like I was a kid again, and Grandpa had caught me sneaking sugar cubes from the Hearthstone supply shelves.
“I love you, granddaughter. Your Nana loved you too. If she’d known Hearthstone almost cost your life, she’d never forgive me.” His voice cracked when he’d mentioned Nana, and he turned around to sit, but I suspected he was blinking away tears.
Same thing I was doing.
“From what I hear,” Grandpa went on, “both you and Callum tried to save the building instead of just worrying about yourselves. Don’t know what kind of sense that shows for my general manager candidates.”
Then his gaze zeroed in on Callum’s hand tangled with mine.
“Unless it’s worse than I thought.”
Crap. We still hadn’t figured out how to have this conversation, and I didn’t even have my voice.
Of course, never one to stay quiet, Callum spoke up first.
“Sir, technically, I wasn’t able to keep it in my pants like you asked. But I’m crazy about her, so I hope you can overlook it.”
I closed my eyes. Wow.
Not how I would’ve put it, but okay.
Grandpa stared at us. “That might explain a few things. How long has this been going on?”
Before Callum could give any other details my grandfather did not need to know, I waved my hands and mimed writing again.
Callum smiled. “Z might have something to add.”
You think? I said with my glare. A loving glare, but still.
We’ve been seeing each other for over a month.
Grandpa read my note, letting the quiet stretch. “When were you two planning on telling me?”
Tomorrow. I’m sorry, Grandpa. It’s my fault, not Callum’s.
“Z,” Callum started.
But I wasn’t going to let him take the blame when he’d already tried to give up the general manager position for me.
It’s all on me. I kissed him first. I initiated inappropriate conduct in the back storage room.
Grandpa’s face was a stony mask as he read my message. Then he did what neither of us expected.
He started to laugh. Long and hard. I didn’t think Grandpa had laughed like this since Nana Julia died.
“You’re idiots,” he said, wheezing. “The both of you.”
Callum snickered at that, and I felt myself smiling. “We’re definitely both idiots about how we feel for each other,” Callum agreed.
I had more to say, though.
But the general manager job. I want you to still consider Callum for it.
Callum gave me a look. “Baby, no.”
Grandpa got up, balancing on his cane. “Work talk will wait. I have phone calls to make about repairs to the building, and I don’t want either of you to think about those logistics for a second. I might be retiring, but I’m not keeled over yet. Got that? I will handle this. You just get better.”
I nodded, and Callum said, “Yes, Grandpa.”
Manny shot him a warning glare, but it was just as full of affection as mine had been.
“I’ll leave you alone and hold back the rest of the flood who’s here to see you.
I think you two could use a few minutes to sort yourselves out.
And for what it’s worth, love matters more than any business ever could. ”
When Manny left, Callum started talking, and I started typing.
“I need to tell you—”
Callum, I have to
He held up a hand. “Let me go first.”
Fine, I mouthed.
“I love you, Z.”
Oh.
Even with all the other surprises I’d endured the past several hours, his words stunned me. Then a toasty-warm feeling spread through my body. Gooier than a gluten-free brownie sundae with oat milk ice cream. Better than a field of sunflowers and spiked cocoa around a campfire.
My thumbs tapped as fast as they could on the screen.
I didn’t get to say it first.
He grinned. “So competitive. You can write it now, if you want.”
But if I had any voice left to me, I had to use it for this. “I love you, Callum,” I rasped aloud.
“Fuck, baby. That’s what I like to hear.” His grin was mile-wide as he kissed me, then rested his forehead on mine. I put my hands on his face, holding him there.
When he pulled back, I typed something else.
I love you, baby boy.
His laugh was so loud the nurse popped her head in to check on us. “Careful or I’ll start singing and dancing,” he said when she was gone. “I love you, Sunflower.”
Love you so much it scares me.
“Good scared or bad scared?” he asked.
Good scared. The kind that makes me want to be braver than I ever thought possible.
“I know exactly how you feel.”