Chapter 4
Lucy hit the ground. The impact knocked the wind from her lungs.
Her throat burned and her eyes watered. Rolling to her side, she started to cough.
Phlegm filled her mouth, and she spit. Her spittle was black.
She pressed her hands into the dirt, trying to sit up.
Her elbows buckled and she fell forward.
Breathing hard, she looked around. Sparks filled the sky. Bits of fiery wood rained down. Clouds of smoke rolled across the night. At her side lay Aiden Colton. His shirt smoldered. He was spread out, his eyes closed.
Then, she remembered going to the barn for tanks of helium.
The smoke. The fire. The door that she couldn’t force open.
Trying to call Grandpa Rusty and eventually moving the tanks so they wouldn’t catch fire.
Her forehead pounded with each beat of her heart.
Trying to bring up more memories sent a sharp pain between her eyes.
But even without being told, Lucy knew that it was Aiden who saved her.
A man ran up to her. He wore a University of North Dakota at Red Grove zippered hoodie. Kneeling next to Lucy, he said, “My name is Ryan Palmer. I’m a doctor. Help is on the way. Does anything hurt?”
“My head,” she said, touching her forehead. The flesh was tender and hot. She could already feel a knot forming. “My chest and throat hurt.”
“Anything else?” Pressing his fingers to her wrist, Ryan looked at his watch.
Lucy lay still and scanned her body. She was weak. She was sore. Nothing hurt worse than an ache. “I think I’m okay.”
“Your pulse is good,” he said, “but I want you to wait here while I examine Aiden. The ambulance is on its way.”
Her throat tightened. “Will he be okay?”
Ryan drew his brows together. “That’s what I’m going to find out.”
She watched as the doctor took Aiden’s pulse. He pressed his head to his chest, presumably listening to his heart. “Everything sounds good,” said Ryan. “But he’ll get a better examination at the hospital.” He looked at Lucy. “As will you.”
The faint wailing of a siren came out of the night. Red lights strobed on the horizon—two fire trucks and an ambulance. She exhaled and her body relaxed. She’d made it out of the burning barn, all thanks to Aiden. She took his hands in hers.
Several people approached. Two women, whom she’d never met, were with Sammy. Ted Barrett was part of the group. There was also Grandpa Rusty. He moved slowly, holding on to the arm of the older woman.
“I missed your call.” Flames from the burning building were reflected in her grandfather’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. I would’ve got you out if I’d heard the damned ringer.”
Rusty rarely cursed, so she knew he was upset with himself over the missed call.
Another thought came to her. What if her grandpa did come to the barn?
Would they both have gotten stuck? There was something else about those moments, while she was in the room, but her head hurt too much to bring back all the memories. “I’m okay, Grandpa Rusty.”
“Ryan,” asked the older woman of the two. “How’s Aiden?”
The doctor said, “I won’t know until we get him a scan. But his pulse and heart are both strong. I’m going to guess that he has a concussion since he’s lost consciousness.”
“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?” The woman let go of Rusty’s hand and knelt next to Aiden. She pushed a lock of his hair back into place.
Aiden’s eyelids fluttered open. “Mom?”
“There you are,” she said. “You’re a hero. Again. I’d tell you to stop, but it wouldn’t do any good.”
So, the older woman was Aiden’s mother. That meant the younger one was who? His sister, most likely. Mother to Sammy. Was Ryan a brother, like Ted? No, he wore matching sweatshirts with Sammy and his mom. They were all together. A brother-in-law, then.
It took all her energy just to work through Aiden’s family tree. She relaxed further, her body sinking into the ground.
“What happened?” Aiden asked, closing his eyes again. “Is Lucy okay?”
The fact that he was worried about her filled her chest with affection and gratitude. Then again, he was a firefighter. It was his job to save her. Still, she squeezed his hand. “I’m right here.”
Aiden slipped his fingers through hers as the sound of sirens grew louder.
The emergency lights atop the vehicles shone on the ground.
The vehicles pulled to a stop and their tires kicked up a cloud of dust. Lucy closed her eyes as the dirt settled.
A pair of EMTs, one female and the other male, approached.
They were clad in blue uniforms with red caducei on their shoulders.
“Hey, Carol. Frank,” said Aiden. “Nice to see you.”
He seemed to be recovering quickly.
“What have you gotten yourself into this time?” Carol asked Aiden.
“You know,” he said, “the usual.”
Carol knelt next to Lucy. “I’m going to take your blood pressure,” she continued. “And get an IV started. Then, we’re going to put you on a backboard and get you to the hospital. How’s that sound?”
Lucy didn’t love the idea of a backboard. Still, she understood that it prevented further injury. “Sounds good,” she said.
She lay back as Carol wrapped her bicep in a blood pressure cuff. Next to her, Aiden was getting the same treatment by Frank. But it was totally different from him to her. Lucy lay there quietly, letting Carol do her work.
Aiden, on the other hand, chatted with Frank. “How’d you end up working tonight?”
“Carol and I are on for the whole weekend. It was work over Labor Day,” said Frank, “or Thanksgiving.”
“Smart move,” said Aiden.
“I was worried that it might be a boring weekend,” said Frank. “Seems like you’ve kept it interesting for us.”
Fire trucks parked by the blaze. The firefighters doused the old barn with water and foam.
“Aiden,” called out one of the firefighters. “Why are you laying around? Get up and help.”
“Leave the guy alone,” said another. “He’s too busy being a hero.”
“Very funny,” said Aiden. “I’ll be right over to help.”
“Don’t you dare get up,” said Frank.
“Frank says no,” Aiden called back.
“That’s me,” said Frank. “The spoilsport.”
Carol placed a hand on Lucy’s arm. “I need you to wait one more minute,” she said. “We’re going to get a back brace for you,” she continued. “To get both of you treated as soon as possible, we’re taking you and Aiden in the ambulance.”
Carol rose to her feet and disappeared into the crowd.
At her side, Aiden’s fingertips brushed the back of her hand. “If that’s not okay,” he said, “you know, riding with me in the ambulance, I can wait.”
Aiden was obviously a favorite of all his coworkers. “I think there’d be a riot if I told the paramedics to leave you here.”
She could feel more than see his smile. “Everyone’s good to me.”
“I feel like you are good to everyone. They’re just returning the favor.
” She paused a beat. “Thank you, by the way. For saving me, I mean.” Jeez, Lucy, great way to impress a guy.
Everyone loves a girl who stumbles over her words.
She bit her bottom lip to keep from saying something else embarrassing.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said. “I was just doing my job.”
She squeezed his palm tighter. “These people, Carol and Frank, and everyone else. They’re doing their job. You were here for the carnival and risked your life to save mine.”
“Well, I guess this is where I say you’re welcome.”
“I guess so,” she said, wondering when she last held a guy’s hand.
Frank and Carol returned. They both held a backboard, tucked under an arm.
Lucy let her palm slip away from Aiden’s.
As the paramedics worked, strapping her onto the brace, she let her mind go back to those first few moments when she first smelled the smoke.
Lucy recalled the flexing of the wood as she rammed her shoulder into the door.
The planks had heaved while she pulled on the handle.
In that moment she realized something that only came back to her now.
The door was more than stuck. It was locked.
The thing was, there was an old hasp on the outside of the door. But nobody had ever used a lock—not in her lifetime, at least. That meant that someone had locked Lucy in the barn. But who would have done such a thing? And why?
As the son of the chief of surgery, Aiden had spent a good bit of his childhood at Red Grove University Hospital.
While his father was always cool and composed, making sure that patients understood they were in competent hands, Aiden had been drawn to the excitement of the emergency room.
But more than that, he’d admired all the paramedics, EMTs, and firefighters who risked their lives to save others.
As a firefighter himself, Aiden really was living his childhood dream. While he’d spent a good bit of his work life making sure that people got to the hospital, he had never been a patient himself.
And to be completely honest, he didn’t like any of it.
Especially since he was perfectly fine. But for several hours, he was poked, prodded, scanned, and x-rayed.
His clothes had been taken from him, and he was given a thin gown that didn’t quite cover him in the rear.
A nurse’s assistant, a woman named Bella who graduated high school with Matti, pushed his wheelchair down a brightly lit hallway.
The rubber soles of her shoes squeaked on the tiles with each step.
“How are the kids?” Aiden asked. Bella was married to Rob, the Red Grove High School class president from Aiden’s junior year.
“Both of the boys are good. Thomas wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.”
“Bring him by the station,” Aiden suggested. “I’ll let him check out the fire truck.”
“That’d be great. Thanks.”
Bella took a lefthand turn at an intersection and wheeled him into a small room at the back of the emergency department. “The doctor will be with you in a minute to go over your results.”
“Where’d my stuff end up?” he asked. “I feel so pretty in the gown and all,” he joked. “But my ass might get a little cold.”