7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
T he car violently shook as it descended.
There wasn’t time to speak.
There wasn’t time to think.
And then as fast as it had started its descent, they were jerked to a stop.
Lily was rattled, but she didn’t notice any serious injuries. She looked over at Tony. He looked rather pale. She didn’t know if it was from their close call with death or his utter exhaustion from holding her up or perhaps it was a combination of both.
And then she noticed something else had happened during their freefall. She glanced down, finding her fingers laced with his. How did that happen?
She tried to recall if she’d reached out to him or if he had reached out to her. But she couldn’t recall. It had all happened so fast.
His warm touch felt good. It felt comforting. Would it be so wrong to leave her hand clasped to his for a little longer?
It wasn’t like he was in a rush to pull away from her. She took what comfort she could from that thought. She resisted the urge to smooth her thumb over the back of his hand.
“Are you okay?” His voice sounded deeper, rougher than normal.
“Uh, yeah. How about you?”
“I’m good.”
“Do you think it’s over?”
“I don’t know, but how about we don’t move until help gets here?” There were notes of concern blended with exhaustion in his voice.
“I think you’re right. How far do you think we fell?”
“Not far. Maybe a few feet.”
That’s it? In her mind, they’d fallen at least six floors. But then again this was a three-story building. So, that was impossible. Still, it felt a lot farther than one floor.
And so, they sat there with their hands clasped. The silence wasn’t helping her remain calm. Her mind kept going to places that it shouldn’t, like what was going to happen when the car fell farther? Like the rest of the way to the bottom?
Her insides knotted up. Nope. I’m not going there.
“I guess you won’t be riding an elevator any time soon,” she said in an effort to distract herself.
“Probably not. It’s going to take a bit for them to repair it.”
“Wait. What?” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. “You’re going to ride this thing again?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I would think the answer is obvious. It almost killed us.”
“No, it didn’t.”
She turned her head to him and arched a brow. She didn’t believe his calm demeanor. “Then how come you told me not to move?”
A muscle in his cheek twitched as though she’d touched upon the truth. “Listen, there’s no need to go on about things that didn’t happen. Help will be here soon, and we’ll be fine.”
“It won’t be soon enough as far as I'm concerned.” The walls felt as though they were closing in on her.
When she was a kid, and her siblings would want to play hide and seek, she was always found first because she refused to climb into cubbyholes or between the largest rocks down along the beach. She wasn’t sure when the phobia started. Perhaps it had always been a part of her.
“So, what made you decide to become mayor?” she asked, hoping their conversation would take her mind off how it was becoming increasingly harder to for her to take a full breath.
“You know that before I was the mayor, I was an attorney, right?”
Lily nodded. “You were a district attorney on the mainland.”
“Assistant DA. And I got to see a lot of people who needed help. Sure there were really bad people, but there were also people who started their legal problems with just one wrong decision. Instead of stopping there, they decided to fix that problem with another wrong decision. In the end, I was losing my faith in mankind. I just wasn’t cut out for it. ”
“It sounds like something bad happened.”
He shrugged, but he didn’t say anything. She had a feeling she’d touched upon a nerve. By bad she’d meant him losing a case, but now she was wondering if it was something more—because the Tony she knew wasn’t a quitter.
In an attempt to undo the awkwardness of her last words, she said, “That job would take a toll on a person. I definitely couldn’t do it.
I like to dwell upon the good things in life.
” When he didn’t respond, she tried to get him to open up to her.
“So, this decision, it came to you over time? Or was it sudden?”
This time he looked at her and arched a brow. “What’s with all of the questions?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to be quippy and say she liked to know more about the people she’s holding hands with, but she refrained for a number of reasons. Instead, she went with the truth. “I’m just trying to keep my mind occupied.”
He sighed as though he could at last breathe. “Because you have claustrophobia.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“It’s pretty obvious when we first got stuck in here. And when you were distracted with trying to make that phone call, it seemed to help you.”
She nodded. “It did.”
“Okay. So you want to know why I moved back to the island and became mayor. Well, there was this one case that landed on my desk. It involved a three-year-old. The parents had drug arrests in the past. Then the father OD’d.
That left the mother, who was going to all of her parole meetings, passing her drug tests, and had found a job.
She was doing all of the right things. Then she was picked up on possession charges.
She swore up and down that the drugs weren’t hers, but who is going to believe her with her history.
In the end, it turns out her own sister set her up.
The sister couldn’t have children of her own, so she wanted custody of her nephew. ”
Lily gasped. “That’s absolutely horrible. I couldn’t imagine any of my siblings ever doing anything so horrible.”
“It took a long time for it to all come out. In fact, we were about to go to court on the mother’s charges when the ugly truth came out.
In all of that time, the sister had custody of the child.
She tried to turn him against his own mother.
I was sickened that she tried to use my office to do her dirty work for her.
I wish I could say that was the only time something so despicable happened, but I’d be lying. ”
“So, that was your last case?
“No.” It was a single word—a single syllable—but it carried with it an ominous note.
She wanted to ask about his last case, but she got a feeling he wasn’t ready to talk about it. And she didn’t want to push. “So, how did you end up back here?”
“My mother and sister called me and told me about the election for mayor. I put them off at first.”
“But it looks like they talked you into it.”
“If you call them filling out the application for me to run for mayor changing my mind, I guess so. In the end, I started to give it some serious thought. I knew I still wanted to help people. By being mayor I could still give back to society but without so much of the pain and disappointment that went along with my other job.”
“I’m sorry the other job didn’t work out for you.”
“I’m not. I’m much happier on the island. I don’t know why I ever thought my future was on the mainland. My family and friends are here in Bluestar.”
“A lot of young Bluestar residents think moving away is the thing to do.”
“But you didn’t. How come?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. My family’s business is here. My whole family is still on the island. It made sense for me to stay.”
“You never wondered what it’d be like to move away?”
“I guess. I wanted to go to New York and pursue my art, but it didn’t work out.” In that moment, thoughts of her father filled her mind. He’d talked her out of chasing that dream. He told her it was too much of a risk. Was it that? Or didn’t he think she was talented enough to make it?
“Hey. Are you okay?”
She blinked back the tears as she nodded. “As fine as I can be, considering I’m stuck in an elevator.”
“It won’t be much longer.”
“Mr. Mayor, it seems like we’ve been in here forever.”
“Mr. Mayor? I think we’re beyond the point of titles. I mean I’ve known you since you wore braces—wait, before that.”
She smiled. “We have known each other most of our lives. But we lost contact.”
“We’ll have to fix that.”
“Hello...” The male voice was faint, but she was certain she’d heard it. “Can you hear me?”
“Help is here.” In her excitement, Lily released his hand and jumped to her feet.
It was the exact wrong thing to do. The car shuddered, and there was another creak.
Tony reached out and grasped her ankle. “Stop.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. The breath hitched in her lungs as she stood perfectly still, hoping and praying they didn’t plunge the rest of the way down the elevator shaft.
“If you can hear me, stop moving.” It was the voice from outside the car. “The cable holding up the car is fraying. We need to secure the car before we can get you out. Can you hear me?”
“We hear you!” Lily shouted as loud as she could.
“Very slowly,” Tony said, “sit down.”
“Maybe I should sit on the other side and try to balance out the weight.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just sit right where you are. Whatever is left of the cable was holding us up when you were next to me. We have no idea what would happen if you shift the weight to another location in the car.”
He had a good point. Now definitely wasn’t the time for testing theories. They just had to stay put until the first responders could safely extract them. Ever so slowly, she once more sat down next to him. And they waited.
And waited...
“What is taking them so long?” She didn’t expect an answer. She was just uttering her frustration and worry.
“I’m going to guess that Bluestar’s fire department has never dealt with a stuck elevator before. So, they are probably throwing around ideas and trying to figure out the safest approach. At least that’s what I would be doing.”
Trying to distract herself from this rescue that was taking far too long, she asked, “Why aren’t you a firefighter?”
It was an old tradition on the island that started with young men volunteering for the fire department when they graduated high school.
These days it’s both boys and girls that give firefighting a try.
However, a lot of young people move away for college.
The number of volunteers that stick it out long-term is a very small percent.
“I was a firefighter before I left for college. I would volunteer when I came home for summers.”
“And now?”
There was a distinct silence. Was he thinking over a good excuse for why he still didn’t volunteer? Or was he flustered that she’d put him on the spot?
Thud!
The car shuddered. The next thing she knew, she was lacing her fingers with his and holding on tight. They clung to each other, not knowing what would happen next.