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I’m an asshole. A gigantic piece of shit. Emily gets her dream job. Instead of being happy for her, I turn into a selfish dick bag. The look of betrayal on her face when I left her standing in the kitchen should have had me dropping to my knees begging for forgiveness. Of course I’m happy for her. This is a huge opportunity for her. The selfish part of me doesn’t want her to leave. I promised Sam I wouldn’t stand in her way and I won’t. Telling her to stay would make me no better than her parents. Part of me hoped we would have more time together. I’m falling in love with Emily. We haven’t had the talk about our future or if she feels the same way I do. What if she doesn’t want me to go with her? This could be a of fun for her before so goes off to her new life.
I haven’t had a moment to wrap my head around what happened with Emily. This day has been like no other. Back-to-back calls. We are exhausted and terrified for our community. The entire week, we have seen more fires than we have in years. Chief has been working with police to find the person responsible for all these fires. Whoever is doing this has no regard for human life. That much was clear with our last call. The son of a bitch set a fully occupied apartment complex of fire. Thankfully, we got all the residents out in time.
The boys and I are in the back of the truck. Trying to catch our breath after the last call when the radio crackles to life. Bodies snap to attention when we hear Claire, from dispatch, read off the location of another fire. The adrenaline kicks in as the sirens blare through the quiet downtown streets. There’s already a crowd gathering when we pull up. Patrick is the first out of the truck. While he runs crowd control, the rest of us suit up. There’s a scurry of men pulling out the hoses and hooking up lines to the water. Chief is calling out orders to the second truck that just pulled up.
I get my first look at the fire when I come around the truck. My heart sinks in my chest. It’s Maxine’s salon. Fear spikes down my spine when I see Maxine’s VW Bug parked out front.
“Shit! Call an ambulance. There’s someone inside,” I call out. I grab Sullivan by the arm and shout, “I need that gate open!” I point to the security gate covering the door. He grabs the bolt cutters from the truck, and we run for the front of the salon. The bolt cutters cut through the lock like butter. The only thing stopping us now it the locked door. I shatter the glass with the butt of my axe. Sliding my mask on, we head inside. Fire licks through the air. While the smoke obstructs our view of the space.
Section by section we clear the space. We haven’t found Maxine yet and I’m starting to worry. She has to be in here somewhere. I move to the back of the salon and tucked under the counters along the wall is a form. The closer I get the more the figure comes into view and I can see it’s a body.
“I found her,” I call out to Sullivan. Dropping to my knees, I reach for Maxine. “I’ve got you Maxine. You’re safe now,” I tell her as I lift her unconscious body into my arms. The ambulance is pulling up when I step outside. They run over with a stretcher and I lay Maxine down. The paramedics wheel her back to the ambulance and get to work, checking her vitals and giving her oxygen. I hope like hell she will be okay. I pull myself together and get back to work clearing the rest of the salon with Sullivan.
Coming out of the building, we call an all clear and the rest of the team goes into action, putting out the blaze. As I pull off my mask, I hear a familiar voice scream out for Maxine. I spin around and see Sam running towards the building. Before he can get any closer, I intercept him.
“Where’s Maxine?” the panic in his voice tears through my heart as I nod over to the ambulance. Terror and heart break take over his face when he sees Maxine lying lifeless in the back. Emily is next to the ambulance, hugging Maxine’s brother while he cries for his sister. Sam breaks free from my grasp and sprints across the parking lot. His screams threatening to break me. Before I can go over to check on Maxine, I’m being pulled back. “Please, let her be okay.” I send out into the universe.
It’s dawn by the time I get to the hospital. Thankfully, the cops caught the bastard. After the terror he put our town through and what he did to Maxine, I hope he rots in jail. The receptionist gives me Maxine’s room number, and I take the elevator to the fifth floor. I knock on the door and a soft “come in,” calls out. Sam is sitting next to the bed when I step inside. He looks up from where his hand is holding Maxine’s. He gets up from the chair and rushes over to me and gives me a big bear hug.
“How is she?” I ask as Sam steps back.
“Thanks to you, she is going to be fine.” Relief washes over me. “Thank you is not enough for what you did.” His voice cracks. “I don’t know what I would have done if I lost her. She’s my life.” Tears stream down his face. I can feel my own tears threatening to break free.
The door opens, and Emily appears in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee. “I updated Maxine’s family. They will be here soon.” She stops her movement when our eyes lock. “Hi, Russell.” I notice the coldness in her voice. I deserve it after how I left things between us. She brushes past me and hands the coffee to her brother. “Do you need me to bring you a change of clothes?”
“Yes, thank you.” He turns his attention to me and asks, “Russ, could you give Emily a ride home?”
“Of course.” Emily grabs her bag. She won’t look at me as I hold the door open for her. I fucked up and I need to make it right. As we walk down the hallway, I notice an empty room. I grab Emily’s hand and drag her inside.
“Russ, what the hell are you doing?” she snaps and yanks her hand from mine.
The moment the door clicks shut, I drop to my knees and wrap my arms around Emily’s waist. Hugging her against me. All the emotions of watching my best friend almost lose the love of his life come flooding out.
“I’m so sorry, Emily,” I sob, hugging her tighter. “I never should have left the way I did. You didn’t deserve that.”
“You’re right, I didn’t deserve that. I thought you would be happy for me,” she says, still not touching me.
“I am happy for you, Emily. I just got scared I would lose you,” I confess. Her hands cup my face and tilt my head up.
“Russell McCoy, you are the dumbest man alive if you think I would just up and leave without you. I love you, you big idiot. I want you to come with me.” My heart is hammering inside my chest at her words.
“Say it again,” I demand.
“Say what, that I want you to come with me?”
“No, the part where you love me.” She loves me, she fucking loves me. Emily drops to her knees so we are at eye level.
“I love you Russell McCoy. I hope you can get your head out of your ass and come to Boston with me. Because I would love to start a beautiful life there with you.” Her eyes are so full of love as she gives me the kick in the ass I need.
“I love you too, Emily. You are the love of my life and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me.” Our lips come together. Sealing our fate together.
epilogue
Eight Years Later
Emily
“Hunter, are you ready to meet your baby sister Brooke?” I hear Russell through the door talking to our son. Brooke is snuggling in my arms, waiting to meet her big brother. Hunter has been staying with Sam and Maxine while I was in the hospital. It has been so good having them here in Boston. They moved to Boston a couple of years ago to be close to us. Hunter loves going over to their house to play with his cousins.
