Edge of the Heat (Westwood Harbor Corruption) Read online

  In her mind, his lips closed over hers. She shivered.

  “Oh, ah, I’m totally clean you know. I don’t have any Hepatitis or anything.” She heard him suck in a nervous breath and hold it.

  Oh man, he thinks I’m worried about getting something from him because I haven’t said a frickin word yet! Emma, say something! She screamed inside her own head. Mentally, she slapped herself across the face.

  “Um, Craig, right?” She forced a smile and took his hand in both of hers. “Thank you so much. You saved my life. I owe you big time.”

  His shoulders relaxed and the smile

  (and those dimples, dear lord!)

  reappeared. “No way, you don’t owe me anything, anymore than that lady you saved today owes you anything, amiright?” He tipped a wink to her and headed back over to the stove top.

  She chuckled, “Yeah, you are right, I guess.”

  He turned back around, two plates in hand, and put them in front of two opposite chairs at the table. “Sit down and have some lunch with me.”

  She eyed the plates. BLT sandwiches. Yum. She eyed Craig. Bigger yum. “Ok.” Emma smiled and pulled out her chair.

  The radio squelched and the tones started. Craig stood up and eyeballed the radio speaker. “Damn,” she heard him swear under his breath. “Engine 18, respond to smell of smoke. 402 Westwood Blvd.” He turned around and put a finger on each stove dial, manually checking to be sure they were off. “Sorry, I have to go. I’d love to see you again soon.”

  He rushed into the hallway and a moment later, she saw the big, red engine pull out onto the road with lights flashing.

  Chapter 5.

  “So how did it go yesterday, anyway?

  What? Emma was jerked back to the here and now by Jerry’s question. They were headed to a school out of their district for a possible sprained ankle, Code 1 - no lights or sirens.

  “You know, with firefighter hot and heavy. How did it go?”

  “Oh, it went fine. I said thanks.”

  “Yeah, and then what?” Jerry looked knowingly at her.

  “And then nothing. He had to go out on the call.”

  “So you were in there for all that time, and all you said was th-”

  “Hey Jerry,” she interrupted him, “Did you know he gave me mouth to mouth?”

  “Um, yeah, he mentioned it. Didn’t I tell you that?”

  “No, you most certainly did not. I thought I started breathing again after he opened my airway.” Emma scowled at him and crossed her arms.

  “Yeah, well, you were breathing by the time I got there. irregular breathing, but breathing. And some oxygen got you all regular and comfortable again.”

  “Oh.” She lapsed into silence. Boy, she should have seen the long tunnel and the big light. But maybe her heart hadn’t stopped beating so she hadn’t technically been dead. Maybe you only see the tunnel when you are actually dead for a little bit. Not breathing for 30 or 40 seconds doesn’t make you dead. Maybe you only get a glimpse of the afterlife if you are dead.

  Abruptly she sat straight up in her seat and strained against the belt, gasping a small “oh” of surprise.

  “What Em, what’s wrong?”

  “My vision Jerry, I forgot all about my vision!”

  And she had. Yesterday afternoon she had reveled in being back at work, enjoying each adrenaline rush and code 3 and patient interaction. When the day was over and she had relived each call at least once her thoughts had stolen to her talk with Craig. That one she replayed 4 or 5 times, berating herself each time for her horrible conversation skills. This morning, she had even started to think of ways to get them over to Firehouse 18 to see if he was working. There had been no call for Engine 18 yet, or she would have jumped it.

  “Your vision? What about it?”

  Oh yeah, Jerry didn’t know she had been lusting after Craig for 24 hours now, so he also didn’t know why the relationship she had been fantasizing about with him would never happen now. Should she tell him?

  “Nothing. Nothing. I was ah, just being silly.”

  Jerry peeked over at her and said “Come on Em, spill it. What’s going on? Does this have anything to do with the sexy new guy?”

  She laughed. Jerry knew her too well. “Ok, Ok, I guess I worked myself into a little crush for the new guy because I wasn’t thinking of my vision.”

  “I knew you would like him! Hell, I’d like him if I were a straight woman. He seems like a helluva nice guy and I’m no expert, but I can tell by the way you and those cops were looking at him yesterday that he is easy on the eyes.”

  Emma felt jealousy flare in her brain and a little pain beat in her chest at the thought of the cops looking at him. Especially the young one. No wait, especially the older one. She was about to demand to hear all about it when logic reasserted itself.

  “But it doesn’t matter Jerry, he’s cute, but he’s not the man in my vision.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “If he’s not the man in my vision there’s no reason to pursue him - the man in my vision is the love of my life. And that’s what I want. Love, family, security.”

  Jerry’s brow creased and he frowned.

  “But Em, he’s just a cute guy. You don’t have to marry him. I haven’t seen you have fun with a guy in …” He trailed off.

  Emma knew what he was thinking. She never dated. And Norman, the only man she’d been with since Jerry knew her certainly hadn’t been fun. He had been all hot body, hot passion, and then 100% abuse. They had only been married for 8 months, and 7 years later he still acted like he owned her. He still put the word out that she was a slut, a whore, and his so if anyone ever did show an interest in her it wouldn’t last long.

  “Well, Em, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you have fun. And besides, how do you know this guy isn’t the guy from the vision?”

  “Because he has light skin and light hair!” Weren’t you listening when I told you about the vision?”

  “Of course I was - I guess I just missed some of the details.”

  “The man in the vision had dark skin, and dark hair.”

  “Dark like what - black?”

  “I don’t think so. His skin was really dark but his facial features didn’t look black. Maybe he was Indian or Mexican or half something? Like President Obama,” Emma said and smiled.

  “Maybe it is President Obama - Emma Hill, yes we can,” Jerry finished in his best Obama impersonation, including a leer and an eyebrow waggle.

  Emma giggled. “Yeah you goof. Don’t call me once I’ve kicked Michelle to the curb and moved into the White House.”

  “Oh I’ll be over for dinner every night!” Jerry stopped the silliness and asked “So if it’s not this guy - what are you going to do? Be celibate until your vision guy shows up?”

  “Yeah like that’s hard? I’ve been celibate for 7 years now.”

  Jerry gave a low whistle of appreciation. “7 years? That’s like a lifetime. Why would you do that to yourself?”

  “Ah you know, every time I got involved with a guy after - after Norman, he always got to them and told them horrible stuff or threatened them. They never stuck around. They never called back. They wouldn’t take my calls. One guy wouldn’t even talk to me afterwords. That was Sam, you know the cook at Cafe Rio? I don’t know what Norman said to him but it must have been awful because I went to his work once and tried to get him to talk to me and he wouldn’t look at me or say a word. The owner finally threw me out and told me never to come back. Eventually I just stopped trying to date.”

  “Did Norman like, spy on you?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe he just has a lot of ears on the ground, being a cop and all.”

  Jerry lapsed into a serious-sounding silence where he chewed on his bottom lip and furrowed his brow.

  “Em, I love you, and I never want to see you go, but one thing I’ve never understood - Why do you stay here in this nasty city? Why not move somewhere new and start a new life where Norman can’t ruin
it? I know you have the money, and I know you have the guts.”

  “Lotsa reasons Jer - you gotta know. Westwood Harbor isn’t exactly the nicest place to live but you don’t move either. And this is my home. I grew up here. And …” here she trailed off, wondering if she should share her biggest secret ever, the one that hit the first head injury secret out of the park.

  Jerry pulled into the school zone and drove as slow as possible, probably trying to finish this conversation before they had to get out.

  “And what?”

  Emma sighed. Jerry was her best friend. He knew almost all of her secrets. If anyone should know this secret it was him. For the 100th time in the last 5 years she said a little prayer of gratitude to herself that she had never told Norman this.

  “And, I have a twin sister and I don’t know who she is and I don’t know if she lives here, but if she does, and I move, I may never run into her.” Emma pushed every word out in one quick, shaky breath.

  “Twin sister!” Jerry exclaimed, pounding on the steering wheel once and pulling himself up and out of his seat. Emma watched her feet. She wasn’t sure if she was glad or not that she had shared. Jerry had a tendency to overreact to things and be loud when she wished he would be quiet.

  “You have a twin sister and you never told me?” Jerry asked incredulously, as he pulled in front of the school and put the ambulance in park. Emma glanced up and saw a woman walking towards them from the front door.

  “Yeah Jerry, I do. I don’t know who she is or how to find her,” Emma’s nostrils were flaring and her cheeks flamed red. She didn’t want to talk anymore. “We were split up and put in two separate foster homes when our mom died giving birth to us and I haven’t been able to find her in my whole life. But maybe someday she’ll find me if I stay here.” Emma opened her door and jumped out, grabbing the aid bag from the compartment behind her seat in one fluid movement.

  Emma practically ran up the sidewalk to meet with the woman and find her patient, leaving Jerry behind.

  Chapter 6.

  Emma finished giving her narrative to the nurse at Westwood General and turned over patient care. She wheeled her gurney out in the hall and started for the exit doors.

  “Um Em, can I talk to you for a sec?” Jerry sounded quite and a little timid.

  “Of course,” Emma said, but she didn’t slow down.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to piss you off back there.”

  Emma let out a deep breath. “You didn’t piss me off. I’m sorry - I didn’t mean to be so sensitive.”

  “Great! Then we are best friends again!” Jerry threw an arm around her neck and gave her a noogie with his free hand.

  “Damnit Jerry! I hate it when you do that,” Emma growled, quickly zig-zagging the gurney to avoid hitting an old man in a wheelchair. The nurse pushing him down the hallway gave them a scolding glance and moved to the far side of the hallway.

  Emma pulled her scrunchy out of her strawberry blond hair, raked her fingers through it, and reworked the ponytail at the base of her skull, trying to steer the gurney with her hips.

  As they passed the receptionist on the way out of the E.R., someone called to them, “Hey, paramedics, hey you.” They turned in unison and saw a young man in blue scrubs waving them over. “Oh man, what now,” Jerry mouthed quietly. Emma pushed the gurney against the wall and they went to see what he wanted.

  “Hey you guys gotta take Dr. Mishra on a ride-along,” blue scrubs said.

  “Says who?” Jerry blurted out aggressively.

  Blue scrubs eyed him warily, “Not me man, Dr. Mishra told me to get him a ride-along and I called your dispatch and they said you were here and to tell you to take him out.”

  “Did they call us by name?” Jerry demanded.

  “She said a bald guy and a cute blond,” blue scrubs stammered.

  “Well that’s obviously not us,” Jerry growled, getting in blue scrubs’ face. He jerked a finger at his head. “I’m not bald, I shave this. And she’s strawberry-blond and hot, not cute,” jerking his thumb at Emma.

  Emma laughed then got between the two men, backing Jerry up.

  “Sorry about him, he hasn’t had any coffee yet. Where’s Dr. Mishra?”

  “Oh, ok, I’ll page him right now,” blue scrubs picked up the phone, keeping his eyes on Jerry.

  “Emma, I don’t want to do a ride-along,” Jerry whined. “I don’t want some jerk doctor in our ambulance telling us everything we are doing wrong.”

  “Well we gotta, so just be cool. I’ll call dispatch and see how fast we can dump him.”

  Emma went out to the ambulance and called on her cell. She was holding for the dispatch supervisor when out walked Jerry with a handsome, dark-skinned man. He was a bit taller than Jerry, with short, jet-black hair. He looked like he was probably of mixed-race, possibly half-white and something else. Indian? Maybe. His eyes were dark and alert, cataloging everything as they walked along. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as he listened to Jerry. He threw back his head and roared a hearty laugh, showing perfectly spaced and colored teeth. Not one cavity in that mouth. His body was slim and he looked very professional in his tan pants, white dress shirt, and black shoes. She thought he looked like Benjamin Bratt from Law and Order, and she thought Benjamin Bratt was sexy as hell. What is this? Two sexy men in two days? Maybe that fall had messed with her hormones or something.

  “Yes, this is the dispatch supervisor, may I help you?” a woman’s voice rang in her ear. Emma hit the green end call button without taking her eyes off the doctor.

  That’s him. The man in my vision. It must be. Electricity tingled up and down her spine. She flipped down the mirror and checked her teeth and hair. Ugh! She hadn’t put any makeup on this morning. What was wrong with her? Well, no time now.

  Should she get out? Should she stay here? Wait for him to come? Her brain swirled in confusion and anxiety. Too late! Jerry was walking him past the ambulance to her door. Her breathing quickened and she saw stars float in front of her eyes.

  “Em, this is Dr. Mishra, Dr. Mishra this is the best paramedic you’ll ever meet: Emma Hill.” Jerry said through the open window. He was slightly behind the doctor and Emma noted he wrinkled his nose. She ignored it, not wanting to think about what that meant.

  Emma forced a smile and tried to speak.

  “Doctor, uh, hi,” she finally got out.

  He put his hand through the open window and flashed her a heartbreaking smile, “Call me Reece.”

  “Reece, uh awesome, uh. Hi.” Emma grasped his smooth skin and pumped his hand lightly. His hand was warm and delicate, and rather small for a man’s. She sucked in breath hard, trying to clear her thoughts.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jerry cock his head quizzically and knit his brows together. She knew she was making a fool of herself and she wasn’t sure how to fix it. Her mind was racing but she couldn’t capture one thought.

  “Emma, what a lovely name for a lovely woman.” Reece pressed the back of her hand to his lips briefly. His speech was crisp and clipped and his accent was slight, as if he had come to America as a young boy.

  She dropped his hand and looked at Jerry. “It’s my turn to drive.”

  “Oh, ok, well, not for 30 minutes, but whatever.”

  She slid over to the driver’s seat. She couldn’t be lead paramedic, making decisions and trying not to kill people with Dr. Mishra - no - Reece watching her.

  Reece opened the passenger door and climbed in. He sat in the passenger seat. Jerry watched him, eyebrows raised.

  “Reece, buddy, ride-alongs sit in the jump-seat in the back. You can walk through the middle there.”

  Reece looked over his shoulder into the back of the ambulance. Emma studiously looked straight ahead at the wall of the hospital. “Well, certainly not Doctor ride-alongs?” he asked with arrogance in his voice.

  “Yes, doctors, lawyers, the President of the United States when he courts Emma - all ride-alongs sit in the
back. Paramedics only up here.”

  Reece didn’t move. Emma wasn’t looking at them but she could feel the tension. Did he want to sit next to her? What was he doing?

  Reece swung back around to face Jerry. “Well perhaps I should not ride along with you.”

  “That sounds like a great idea. I’ll call dispatch and get you another ambulance,” Jerry retorted back swiftly.

  Reece sniffed, apparently knowing when he was beat. “OK. I will sit in the back then.”

  ***

  They cruised the area in silence for a bit. Emma could tell that Jerry was irritated with Reece. She knew he would get over it soon. Jerry didn’t hold grudges.

  Reece leaned towards the opening between the back of the ambulance and the front and shouted over the noise of the diesel engine, “Did the President really ride in your ambulance?”

  Jerry snorted laughter. “No, but he would sit in the back if he did.”

  Emma let out the breath she didn’t even know she had been holding. It seemed things were OK again between the two men “It’s quiet, let’s go get some lunch,” she suggested.

  “Awww man, why did you have to say the Q word Emma, you know better than that! Now all hell is going to break loose,” Jerry whined and threw his hands in the air.

  Emma glanced towards the back, eyes wide. Why did Jerry have to be such an ass sometimes?

  “Shut up Jerry, that’s just superstition,” she scolded.

  “Yeah well, it’s good superstition. You never say the Q word until you are home,” Jerry grumbled.

  “Ok sorry, let’s stop at Nan’s Ok?”

  “Sure,” Jerry agreed sulkily.

  “Uh, Reece, are you OK with a bite to eat?” she yelled over her right shoulder.

  “Sure,” Reece yelled back.

  Emma drove to Nan’s, a quiet hole in the wall in the industrial area. They liked to eat here because the food was quick and plentiful.

  “Unit 17, 10-7X-Ray on Mineral St,” Jerry relayed their status to dispatch and they headed into the restaurant, Jerry and Emma both checking their portables to be sure they were on.